Artemis Fowl and the Pursuit of Time
by Slowcoach Campbell
Summary: Opal Kobi has fled to the past to escape recapture by the LEP. In the dark alleyways of Victorian London she intends to twist history to her will and make herself Queen, not only of the world, but of all of time itself. Artemis Fowl and Captain Holly Short must follow the power mad pixie back into the past and stop her before she can complete her diabolical scheme.
1. Introduction

**Artemis Fowl and the Pursuit of Time**

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Introduction:

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_Opal Kobi has fled to the past to escape recapture by the LEP. In the dark alleyways of Victorian London she intends to twist history to her will and make herself Queen, not only of the world, but of all of time itself. Artemis Fowl and Captain Holly Short must follow the power mad pixie back into the past and stop her before she can complete her diabolical scheme. However it shall not be easy. Opal's magic is more powerful than ever before and, as if that was not sufficient, she intends to recruit followers to her cause. Artemis may be the greatest criminal mastermind of the 21__st__ century, but is he a match for the most ingenious, the most mysterious and the most feared criminals of the 19__th__?_

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**Author's Note:** During this story I shall endeavour to be as historically accurate as I can, explaining points which I feel require elaboration in footnotes and specifically mentioning if I make a conscious historical inaccuracy (sometimes I'll need to for the sake of the story). However, if whilst reading this fic, you notice a historical error that I haven't referenced, please feel free to say so in a comment and I will make sure that I either amend the mistake or insert a note stating that it is an inaccuracy.

This is an indirect sequel to my previous Artemis Fowl fanfiction "_Old Dogs and New Tricks_". Reading it before this story is by no means necessary, but it might help marginally to more fully understand several parts of the story and you might even enjoy it for its own sake!

(Semi-Spoilers) In _Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian_ we saw present day Opal's plot to take over the Earth. In this story we shall see what would have happened if past Opal had left her future self to rot in prison and made her own attempt at world domination. This story, therefore, essentially replaces T_he Last Guardian_ in terms of chronology. Savvy?

Finally please (as I always say) review. I love reading your feedback and comments, and I generally try to reply to them all. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Needless to say I do not own the Artemis Fowl series.


	2. Chapter 1: A Drain on Society

**Chapter 1: A Drain on Society**

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**Tara Shuttle Port, Ireland, Present Day**

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"_Our top story tonight: the body of a 157 year old sprite, identified by LEPRecon as one Sidfrey Milx, was discovered in the early hours of this morning in a field near the entrance to the E7 shuttle port in Southern Italy. The police are apparently treating his death as suspicious, however no one from within the LEP has yet commented on speculation that this latest death may be linked to the recent spree of murders that have so far claimed the lives of five fairies in the vicinity of multiple shuttle ports around the world. With the dead now including an elf, a dwarf, a gnome, a goblin, a gremlin and now most recently a sprite, it is thought that the serial killer, whoever he or she may be, is working their way through each of the fairy families. If this is the case"_ finished the news reader portentously, and clearly relishing the dramatic nature of his news segment, _"no centaur, pixie or demon is safe"._

The demon warlock, seated in one of the many bars to be found in the arrivals lounge of the sprawling complex situated beneath the Hill of Tara, wasn't listening to the excited news reader speaking from a large plasma screen television mounted on the wall behind him. Instead he was entirely occupied by his own gloomy thoughts. Being a warlock be had naturally failed to warp and so merely resembled an overgrown imp. His hard leathery skin was a shade of pale green, his eyes dark orange rather than the usual gold, and both his horns and ears were unusually small for his kind. At the time of the return of the eighth fairy family from Limbo, and for a while afterwards, there were only two warlocks at the Demon Warlock Academy; one teacher and one student, Qwan and N°1 respectively. However this state of affairs could not last forever and over time several imps began to show aptitude for magic. Qwan took them in and taught them how to control their powers, the history of the use of magic amongst the People and what it truly meant to be a warlock. None of which was of much interest to this particular demon. As an imp on Hybras he had dreamed of the day when he would warp and become the most impressive, terrifying, feared and respected demon warlord that the Pride had ever seen. But it was not to be; a few months after the destruction of Hybras and the return of the demon race to Earth he had accidently cast his first gargoyle's touch spell. Soon afterwards he found himself undergoing a kind of metamorphoses, but unlike the warp he had longed for it was not his body that changed but his mind. After the period of transformation, during which lightning bolts had erupted from the young imp's fingertips and...elsewhere, he had been given by Qwan a traditional Qw name, Qwayoc, and he had joined the academy.

The bloodlust, rage and longing to rip the entrails of his enemies from their broken bodies had left Qwayoc; in their place was a sense of disappointment, frustration and inferiority. He was by no means a weak warlock, far from it, his powers were almost a match for those of the star pupil N°1 and he was a quick learner. But he could not pass a towering demon in the street without a pang of loss. Qwayoc knew that these feelings of inadequacy were illogical; he was now more powerful than even the strongest of warriors. With a single bolt of lightning he could fry a fully warped bull demon to a crisp or with his little finger turn him into a helpless statue. And yet...to be a demon, a real demon, was so much more than just muscles and razor edged claws. It represented an ideal; strength, freedom, pride and honour. Many demons had already chosen to join the LEP and were working their way through the Lower Elements Police Academy; whilst some were already on active duty. When Qwayoc had passed a demon he recognized as a former imp from his dormitory back on Hybras, wearing the black jumpsuit of an LEP Retrieval commando and a custom built helmet to accommodate his great curved horns, he had nearly screamed with gut-wrenching jealously.

When it all became too much for him Qwayoc liked to play truant, escaping for a few short hours from his endless classes and lectures. At first he had fled to bars and pubs in Haven itself, but soon Qwan discovered all his favourite haunts and would always seem to quickly find him and frogmarch his missing charge unceremoniously back to the academy. Therefore Qwayoc had this time decided that he would make certain that his zealous tutor would not discover him. He had applied for a surface visa and, after a long and maddening wait, had at last been told that he had been granted one. Without a moment's hesitation Qwayoc had jumped onto the first shuttle to the surface he could find and sworn that he would not return until he saw fit.

As the demon warlock's plan had worked to perfection an observer might well wonder why Qwayoc was now starring sullenly into space and occasionally shooting resentful glances towards a group of fairies a few tables away from his own. Seated there, lounging back casually in his chair, was an off-duty LEP Recon corporal. The elf was wearing his cap, a dark green beret bearing the golden acorn of the LEP, at a rakish angle and a pair of black aviator shades, whilst smoking a cheroot. On either side of the corporal sat two females; avidly listening to him telling no doubt exaggerated tales of his heroics in the line of duty and showing off his battle scars. The first girl was voluptuous elf with long flowing blonde hair and a vivacious giggle, wearing the uniform of a civilian shuttle flight attendant. The second was a curvy sprite with bobbed hair that gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth every time the Recon officer told a particularly exciting anecdote.

"But weren't you afraid that the trolls would kill you if you went back for your friend?" asked the blonde elf, her eyes round with amazement and admiration.

"No time to be scared when lives are on the line babe. Besides we never leave a man behind in the LEP" said corporal, with an air of easy confidence.

"Oh my gods you're so _brave_" the sprite simpered; looking as if she was on the point of swooning.

Qwayoc turned back to his drink and scowled. It was so _unfair_! He could obliterate a whole pack of trolls in a heartbeat with a thunderstorm in the palm of his hand. But girls didn't care about that, oh no, it wasn't _'cool'_. They wanted heroics and grandstanding and...

"Hey there" the sultry, seductive voice jerked Qwayoc out of his reverie and, turning, he saw a pixie standing beside his chair. She had long cherry red hair, large almond shaped eyes, pouting lips and was wearing a black catsuit.

Taken completely by surprise Qwayoc stammered "err...um...that is to say...err...hello".

"Do you mind if I join you?" asked the pixie, indicating the chair beside the warlock.

Qwayoc at first seemed to have lost the power of speech, but at last managed to gurgle "p-please do". As the pixie sat, smiling coquettishly across the table at him, with an almost hungry look in her eyes, Qwayoc's mind tried desperately to catch up with current events. Demons were not on the whole considered to be attractive by the other fairy families; they did after all resemble a cross between leathery sheep and pigmy rhinoceroses standing up on their back legs. However, whereas warped demons were at least tall and muscle bound, imps and warlocks were well and truly short changed in the looks department, as far as most fairies were concerned. And yet here was a stunning pixie who seemed to be flirting with him. Qwayoc tried to remember what one was supposed to do under these circumstances, weren't complements supposed to be involved somehow? "Um I...err like your hair" he eventually said uncertainly.

"Thanks" replied the pixie "it's dyed actually; my natural colour is black, but I thought I'd like a change".

"Oh" said Qwayoc. It was all be could think of; demons not having much experience where hair is concerned, not having any themselves.

"By the way my names Lapo" purred the girl.

"Qwayoc" said the warlock; immediately wishing, for the thousandth time, that he was a real demon and had a real demons name like Raktar Blood Fang or Orzog the Skull Splitter. Anything would have been better than going around with a name that made you sound like a novelty cleaning product!

"So Qwayoc, you're a warlock aren't you? What are you doing up here?" asked Lapo.

Qwayoc, who took a moment to answer because he was just musing over how much he liked hearing this girl say his name, said "to tell you the truth I just came up here to get away from it all; just to relax".

Lapo smiled broadly "that's exactly why I'm up here too! How would you like to maybe go somewhere and..._relax_ together?"

The demon warlock may not have been well experienced when it came to matters of the heart, but even a sun blinded dwarf couldn't have missed a pass that obvious. Once again Qwayoc was stunned into silence; but he nodded eagerly and followed the pixie out of the bar.

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**The Hill of Tara, Ireland, Present Day**

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Lapo led Qwayoc out of the shuttle port and into a small wood near the McGraney's farm; a homestead which had bordered the hill for centuries. The pixie, to avoid the prying eyes of humans, had employed her magical shield, but the demon, lacking this ability himself, had instead rented a sheet of Cam Foil; available from the shuttle port LEP border guards to allow fairies without the gift of making themselves invisible to leave the confines of Tara without risking detection. Lapo stood with her back to a tree and gazed at Qwayoc again with the same hungry expression. "So why didn't you just go somewhere to relax in Haven with your friends?" she asked casually.

"I...haven't really got any" answered Qwayoc feeling embarrassed and idiotic.

The pixie's smile broadened "a lone wolf? I like that. And what about your teachers at the academy, do they know where you've gone?"

Qwayoc, who was still smiling fatuously from the description '_lone wolf_', shook his head. "Old Owan? No I gave him the slip. He always seems to find me wherever I go in Haven, but he'd never think of looking for me up here".

"A lone wolf and a rebel, and you're still single?" laughed Lapo seductively. "So no one knows you're up here then, it's just you and me?"

"Yes" answered Qwayoc, before adding hesitantly, remembering the LEP corporal and his pair of infatuated admirers "...babe".

"That's it you're mine, I'm going to have your right here and right now!" shouted Lapo and with a cry of ecstasy launched herself towards the warlock. The pixie's lips locked with the demon's in a passionate kiss, whilst one of her hands clasped the back of his head. Meanwhile Qwayoc felt her other hand fumbling with his own; although he couldn't think why until he felt something slide onto one his stubby fingers. Breaking away from their kiss Lapo smiled again; but this time it was no flirtatious grin, but instead an expression of sadistic amusement

"What..." began Qwayoc, before suddenly breaking off with a gasp. Spreading up his arm from his left hand was a feeling of ice cold numbness. Looking down in horror the warlock saw that the pixie had slipt a large metallic ring onto his index finger. He tried in vain to remove it, but the paralysis had already claimed his right hand and soon the rest of his body followed suit. Qwayoc swayed on the spot for a few seconds, before toppling over backwards and lying, frozen and helpless, upon the forest floor. Only his eyes could move and they looked up at Lapo with an expression that seemed to say "_what have you done to me?_"

"Paralysis Ring, my own invention" Lapo giggled, before adding "and so is this". So saying the pixie raised her hand to her face and, without the slightest warning, dug her delicate fingers into her own flesh. If Qwayoc had still been able to he would have screamed; such was his shock. Seemingly unconcerned the girl drove her nails still deeper and then ripped away a large chunk of her own face. However, as Lapo stood, clutching a fistful of flesh which included most of her right cheek and her nose, the warlock realised that there was no blood, and no exposed tendons and muscles. Instead he saw a second face beneath the first. A moment later and Lapo was gone and in her place stood a pixie that Qwayoc, and every other fairy under the Earth, recognized only too well; Opal Koboi.

"A synthetic mask: a perfect replication of a fairy face, down to the most infinitesimal details, even artificial irises to fool scanners. All my idea of course. The hair dye I can't take credit for; but I must say that I think it suits me". Looking down at the completely helpless warlock Opal laughed and said "as you've been so considerate, coming up here all alone and then agreeing to go for a little stroll with me, I suppose you deserve to know why and how you are going to die". Delving into a pocket of her cat suit Opal retrieved a pair of what appeared to be white latex gloves, covered in an intricate web of miniaturized wires and tubes. As she slipped them on she casually continued "I shall not attempt to explain to you in full how these instruments of pure genius operate, because only one such as I could possibly comprehend them, so instead I shall make it simple. These gloves allow me to drain a fairy, not only of his or her life, but also of their magical essence. Using these I have acquired the agility of a sprite, the healing powers of an elf, the firepower of a goblin and oh so many other little tricks and abilities from all those others who have been my prey. But tonight will be my greatest achievement; I shall gain all the powers of a demon! Combined with my own enhanced magic, and that of all the fairies I have absorbed, I shall be unstoppable!"

Opal paused; she looked up at the night sky and the glorious full moon, just visible between the thick branches of the tree surrounding the pixie and her victim. She sighed and then returned her attention to Qwayoc "but not here and not now. When I first found myself in this time I thought that I would focus all of my energies upon rescuing my future self, but then I decided otherwise. After all, how could I, in my perfection, have allowed myself to be captured? I must have got soft in my old age and what use would I have for a tired old woman? No, it would be much better to remain alone and trust in my own abilities. But now it doesn't seem that I can so much as blow my nose without the accursed LEP, and their maddening human ally Artemis Fowl, turning up and ruining everything! So I'm leaving, going somewhere where I can carry out my plans in peace. And oh such a plan! When I aimed for world domination I was thinking far too small. I can do so much better than that! I shall have Earth's past, present and future; all of fairy and human history will be mine to mould and change as I see fit!"

Opal, who had been enjoying her monologue to her captive audience immensely, suddenly seemed to remember that this was how so many villains had caused their own undoing. In the words of the great American author Mark Twain; "_the secret of getting ahead is getting started"_. Reaching down towards Qwayoc she gently, almost lovingly, placed her palms on either side of the warlock's skull and closed her eyes. At first there was nothing, but then it began. Pain. Pain worse than anything the unfortunate Qwayoc had ever felt in his life, as if his very soul was on fire. Magic is a deep and fundamental part of every fairy, but none more so than demon warlocks. It is engrained in every atom of their beings; it is as much a part of them as their bones or their blood. Unable to scream only the demon's eyes indicated his suffering; until at last his body ceased to spasm and twitch, and he went limp. Releasing the husk of what remained of Qwayoc from her grasp, Opal straightened herself, removed the monstrous gloves and then looked down at her hands. She stood stock still for a few seconds and then unleashed a barrage of goblin fireballs and demon lightning bolts into the forest around her. Trees were engulfed in flames or exploded in showers of leaves and splinters. Using the reflexes of a sprite Opal's hand shot out and, using the gargoyles touch, turned a passing moth to stone. The delicate insect spiralled to earth, struck a tree root and shattered like glass.

Opal's face suddenly became deadly serious; enough fun and games, now it was time for the true test of her new abilities. Drawing upon her now almost inexhaustible supplies of magic and calling upon the knowledge and experience for casting such spells that she had acquired from the late Qwayoc, Opal extended her hands before her and created a time tunnel. It took a titanic effort and a lesser fairy would almost certainly have been destroyed by the eldritch energies cracking from the portal. Despite all her magical skill and power it nevertheless was almost Opal's undoing; but eventually the buzzing and spitting forces of the tunnel seemed to subside and stabilize. Opal managed a small smile, even under the great pressure of keeping open this fissure in time; there was nothing that her genius could not overcome if she set her mind to it. Carefully she edged forward until she stood on the very edge of the rift. She glanced once more over her shoulder at the earthly remains of Qwayoc, blew him a kiss and said in a sickly sweet voice "was it good for you too?" And then she stepped into the time tunnel and vanished; leaving Tara, Ireland and the 21st century far behind her.

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The wood was silent for some twenty minutes, until the sounds of several irritated voices speaking in gnomish broke the stillness. "Come on, this way, this is where the lights were coming from!"

"D'Arvit captain; I swear whoever these jokers are who thinks it's funny setting off fireworks and dragging me away from my coffee brake at this time of night are in for a _world_ of pain...or at the very least a stay in the most uncomfortable cell I can find!"

"I couldn't agree more corporal" said Captain Chix Verbil, striding into the clearing. "Well this was where the action happened, clearly. Looks like a miniature tornado and firestorm ripped through this place! A couple of goblins had one too many and decided to make the Mud Men think they were under attack by little green men from Mars I'll bet by wings".

The corporal was in the act of advancing towards one of the shattered tree stumps when he stumbled over something. "D'Arvit! Bloody troll dung! What..." he broke off suddenly. After a moments silence he said very quietly "Captain Verbil sir, you'd better get over here right away".

Something about the officer's tone caught Chix's attention and he quickly walked across to his subordinate to see what he had discovered. Whatever he had been expecting it wasn't what he found. Lying before him was the crumpled and broken body of what presumably had once been a demon, pre-warp. He looked as though he had been dead for centuries, possibly even millennia, and had been buried deep in the boiling sands of the desert. Skin peeling and bleached of all colour, stretched over bones, all flesh gone, eye sockets empty and mouth open in a silent scream. "Gods" breathed Chix in horror "it's another of them, it's happened again". Activating his helmet com-link the sprite contacted the LEP headquarters at Tara. "This is Captain Verbil, I need reinforcements out here right now to set up a perimeter. We've found another body, the same as the others. Also get a line open to Police Plaza ASAP. They'll want to hear about this".

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**Author's Note: **_**I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the story and never fear; next time there will be plenty of Artemis and Holly (and a few more laughs).Opal's false name, Lapo, was inspired by Count Dracula's alias Alucard.**_


	3. Chapter 2: The New Old Dress

**Chapter 2: The New Old Dress**

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**The Hill of Tara, Ireland, Present Day**

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Only a few hours later and the wood in which the demon warlock Qwayoc's body lay had been completely cordoned off and secured. Not that you would have known it though; a human walking past the copse would not have noticed anything out of the ordinary and by the next morning, should a Mud Man happen to stroll through the wood itself, not so much as a burnt twig would remain to suggest that anything untoward had taken place there the night before. Cleaning up potentially disastrous fairy related messes was, after all, one of LEPRecon's specialities. It had also only taken an hour for the LEP to dispatch to the crime scene the fairies (and the one Mud Man) who were currently investigating the string of ugly murders which had thus far taken place in the close vicinity of six shuttle ports around the world. These included Foaly, Captain Holly Short, Qwan and Artemis Fowl. The latter two had not been involved with the investigation from the beginning; Artemis had only been called in after the first three deaths (much to Commander Kelp's chagrin) and for Qwan this was his first involvement in the case, as it concerned one of his students. This was the first serial killer that the People had faced in over a century and consequently the Council was putting a lot of pressure on the police department to produce results.

"Here he is" said Captain Chix Verbil, as he pulled back a black plastic sheet that someone had considerately decided to use to conceal the warlock's unsightly remains from view. "Not a pretty sight is it?"

Artemis's pursed his lips with distaste and Holly winced; no matter how many times you saw these bodies you couldn't get used to them. Not shot or stabbed, but hideously drained and shrunken; reduced to a state of near mummification. Qwan knelt down beside the body and shook his head sadly. "My poor, poor Qwayoc. He was a good student, when he wanted to be. He could have been a great warlock given time. I saw that he was not in class this morning and, despairing of his truancy, I decided that I would not trouble myself to look for him. It was his education, I reasoned, if he wished to squander it so be it. I...I shall never forgive myself".

"It wasn't your fault Qwan" said Holly quickly "you can't blame yourself for what happened".

Qwan smiled wanly "thank you captain, it is kind of you to say so".

"So..." said Foaly, casting his eyes around the clearing and pouring the ground with one of his front hooves pensively "the body's the same as the others, but all this destructions a new one. Did the killer celebrate this murder by torching the place with a flamethrower or something?"

"I doubt it Foaly" replied Artemis, sniffing the air in a thoughtful manner.

"I can't smell anything" said Chix, a moment later, sounding confused.

"My point exactly, Captain Verbil. Although I am no expert when it comes to matters concerning ordnance, I seem to remember my bodyguard Butler informing me that a flamethrower leaves behind a strong smell of petrol. As you have so meticulously observed, there is no such trace".

"That's true" mused Holly "so that means it was probably a goblin letting off a few fireballs then. Maybe the B'wa Kell is up to its old tricks again".

"I said it might be goblins to one of my men earlier!" piped up Chix eagerly. "Oh that reminds me, Corporal Sapling wants to speak with you four".

Corporal Sapling, the elfin officer who had accompanied Captain Verbil to the site of the murder of Qwayoc and discovered his body, approached Artemis, Holly, Foaly and Qwan, and saluted respectfully. "What is it corporal?" asked Holly with interest.

"Err well captain, it's like this, I think I may have seen that demon earlier this evening" said the elf uncertainly.

"Where, when?" asked Foaly eagerly.

"Well I was off duty, just spending a little quite time by myself you understand" at this Chix coughed, possibly masking a snort of disbelief. "And I was in this bar see, and I saw the deceased sitting a few tables from mine. I didn't pay him much attention at first you see, I was...um distracted. Anyway suddenly I saw this pixie girl go over and start talking to him, and a few minutes later they left together. I remember thinking that it was a bit odd at the time, I mean a little smasher like her chatting up a demon warlock?" Suddenly a look of horror passed across his face, as he remembered that his audience included the headmaster of the Demon Warlock Academy, and he added hurriedly "oh no offence meant to you sir of course, I just meant..."

"Think nothing of it Corporal Sapling, I quite agree that it sounds highly suspicious" reassured Qwan. Turning to the others he asked "so it would seem that a pixie is involved in this case. Surely goblins and pixies working together is unusual?"

Foaly, Artemis and Holly exchanged worried looks. "Unusual perhaps, but not unheard off. I can think of one prime example" said Artemis darkly.

"This pixie, what did she look like?" Holly asked Sapling urgently.

The corporal considered for a few moments and then said "well let me see now; red hair I think and...well I can't think how to describe. Pretty nice looking girl, I thought, if you don't mind me saying so. But captain" he grinned "if you're thinking what I think you are, then no, it _defiantly_ wasn't Opal Kobi. I'd have recognized the Lower Elements most wanted if I saw her".

As if on cue one of the Recon officers examining the area for evidence suddenly shouted "over here, I've found something!" A moment later a sprite buzzed over to the group, like an overgrown wasp, and handed Foaly what appeared to be a handful of skin-coloured rubber. The centaur examined the officer's find for a few seconds and then held up to the light what was, unmistakably, an artificial fairy nose.

The colour drained from Corporal Sapling's face, leaving the elf looking almost grey. "Oh dear" was all he could manage.

"_Oh dear_ indeed" replied Artemis coldly.

Rather than dwelling on the fact that the most hunted fairy criminal since Puck had been able to waltz around Tara shuttle port without a care in the world, Foaly instead decided that there would be time for finger pointing later during the full investigation that this almighty foul-up would surely result in. Instead he said "OK then let's assume that Opal sneaked into Tara, lured Qwayoc to this location, killed him, blew half the forest apart and then...left?"

"Have you found any footprints other than those of Opal and Qwayoc?" Holly asked Chix.

Captain Verbil shook his head and answered, slightly defensively "well no, not yet, but I'm sure we will".

"I wonder..." mused Artemis slowly "when I encountered Miss Kobi beneath the Extinctionists' compound in Morocco, she had used animal brain fluids to enhance her own magic. Is it possible that she can have found a way to adapt this same technique to draining fairies of their powers; for example a goblin of his ability to produce fireballs?"

"But that's impossible!" cried Chix, in alarm.

"Captain Verbil" said Artemis sharply "in my experience, when it comes to Opal Kobi, there is no such thing. Her outlook is, and always has been, to quote Hannibal of Carthage: '_I will either find a way, or make one'_".

"But if that's true and Opal now has the powers of a demon warlock, on top of her own magic and that of all her previous victims..." Holly broke off with a shudder.

"Alright then, as usual let's look at the worst case scenario, as, with our track record, we can pretty much kiss the best case scenario goodbye" said Foaly with a rather forced laugh. "So let's say that Opal now has pretty much all the magic she could ever want; what does she want it for? If I know Opal, and unfortunately I think I do, it won't just be simply for the sake of it, she'll have some grand scheme in works".

"Draining a demon warlock of his magic would grant Opal the use of the gargoyles touch, I presume, and clearly the use of their lightning and plasma bolts" Artemis hesitated and then, turning to Qwan, asked "could she create a time tunnel?"

Qwan, who had been sunk deep in thought, shook himself and said slowly "I would pray to the gods that she could not. But, from what I hear of this most unpleasant pixie, and taking into account the possible extent of her powers now...it is quite possibly". Straightening himself and looking around the clearing with renewed purpose, the old demon continued "if she has created one here I should be able to sense it, if I can get close enough to the site where it was created".

"Well then let's hope Opal showed as much patience as she usually does and cooked one up straight away then" said Foaly.

"My good centaur, one does not simply 'cook up' a time tunnel, as you put it. They are works of magical art. However I shall endeavour to discover if one was produced here...one moment if you please". So saying Qwan advanced slowly across the clearing, his arms out stretched before him like a blind man, seemingly feeling for something that the others could neither see nor sense. At last he stopped beside a small patch of grass, which appeared to be no different than any other. Qwan went down on one knee and, placing his hand upon the forest floor, closed his eyes and began to speak. "It was here. She opened a portal, it was difficult for her without the proper training and practice, but her great magical strength saved her. The tunnel stabilized and she passed through. She travelled to the 18th...no 19th century. To England and to...London I think". Standing upright once more the warlock turned and said apologetically "I'm sorry that's all I can tell you".

After a brief pause Foaly said "I think I speak for all of us when I say that was way more than we could have hoped to have learnt. Err nice going. Just one question though, how come Opal's clothes aren't lying around here somewhere? Last time we saw N°1 do the whole time tunnel thing Holly and Arty here had to strip down to their undies, and absolutely hilarious it was too".

"Simple, removing ones clothing and equipment is no longer required for risk free time travel. Like you, my good centaur, who works in the field of science, we who practice in magic also make near constant discoveries and develop new techniques. Thanks to the latest advancements in the art, due largely to the incredible skill and power of my apprentice N°1, it is now perfectly safe to travel through time tunnels without the possibility that one's atoms may become mixed with those of anything one happens to be wearing or carrying at the time" explained Qwan proudly.

Ignoring Foaly's remark about the last time Holly and himself had passed through a time tunnel, Artemis said "if Opal is allowed to run rampant through the past there is no telling what potential damage she could cause to the present or the future" A slight frown creased his young brow. "Is there any way that you could possibly pull her back to our time from here, Master Qwan?"

"Yes and no Fowl. No, I cannot draw her to me from here, although I can dimly sense her presence. But if I was to send someone after her and they were able to get into close proximity to her, then I could most certainly try".

"How close is close?" asked Holly.

"Very, I'm afraid captain. Physical contact, even if only for a second, would be essential" answered Qwan despondently.

"And she's slap bang in the middle of London? Who knows how long it might take to find Opal! We can't risk sending in a retrieval team; they couldn't possibly be expected to shield indefinitely until they found her. Sooner or later they'd run dry and then the People would be discovered...in the past, who knows what that'd mean for us here and now" said Foaly grimly.

"As to her exact location I cannot be precise in terms of how close she may or may not be to the centre of the city. However you are quite correct in your assumption that the hunt for Miss Kobi could well be a long and arduous task" replied Qwan.

"Then we need to send in a smaller team, like just me and Artemis. We've faced Opal before and we know how she thinks. Artemis can interact with the humans, if need be, and I'll take her down when we find her". Turning to her human friend Holly said very seriously "Arty I know this is a lot to ask of you, you're not LEP, but we need you on this one...I need you".

Artemis chuckled "please Holly, there is no call to be so melodramatic, of course I shall accompany you. After all Opal poses a threat to all of us, human and fairy alike, and so this venture will be just as much in my own interests as in those of the People". Artemis's face suddenly softened and he added "besides captain, when have I ever let you run off and face danger alone?"

Holly smiled warmly back "thanks Arty". Meanwhile Foaly in the background rolled his eyes and mimed throwing up. Ever since their last adventure together, during which Holly and Artemis had helped to defeat an enemy of the People that they had long believed to be dead and averted an inter species war with the humans **[A/N: see **_**Old Dogs and New Tricks**_**]**, the Fowl heir and the fairy captain had...come to an understanding, as it were. Although they never appeared to be anything other than close friends in public, Foaly knew both well enough to have his suspicions.

"That would seem to address several key issues" said Qwan nodding. "However we still face the problem of how the good Captain Short may endeavour to remain undiscovered throughout this entire operation".

"I think I may have a solution to that particular problem" said Artemis, with a hint of a smile that was missed by all except Holly.

"What?" asked the elfin captain suspiciously.

Turning to Foaly and Qwan, entirely ignoring Holly's question, Artemis enquired "tell me, Master Qwan, to send Captain Short and I after Miss Kobi will you require to be in this location, or could you do it from anywhere?"

"Now that I know where and when she is, this place has served its purpose" stated Qwan simply.

"What solution?" asked Holly again, raising her voice.

Still apparently deaf to Holly's question, Artemis continued "then Foaly I suggest that we travel without delay to Fowl Manor. I believe that I have just the thing to allow Captain Short to walk amongst the people of London unseen". After a moment s thought he amended "or at the very least unnoticed.

A few years previously the centaur technical consultant would no doubt have questioned Artemis on what he intended to do, but now he simply nodded. "Right, we'll grab a shuttle from Tara and we can be there in ten minutes tops".

As the party turned and hurried away towards the shuttle port, Holly snapped angrily "Artemis! What are you up to?"

"Patience is a virtue my dear" chuckled Artemis playfully. "You wouldn't want me to spoil the surprise now would you?"

* * *

**Fowl Manor, Ireland, Present Day**

* * *

The Fowl's, naturally accompanied by Artemis' bodyguard and manservant Butler, had been enjoying a family holiday in Venice when the LEP had contacted Artemis and asked for his help with the shuttle port murders. Although Angeline and Artemis Senior had not at first been best pleased to learn that their son was planning on cutting short his vacation, as soon as they heard that Artemis was going to the aide of '_that charming young lady Holly_', they immediately agreed. Consequently the ancient manor house currently stood quiet and empty, that is until the stillness was abruptly disrupted when a fairy shuttle fizzled into the visible spectrum on one of the main lawns and a small group disembarked. Upon entering the home of his forefathers, Artemis directed his fairy friends into a comfortable and well appointed sitting room just off the manor's main entrance hall, and then disappeared up the grand staircase. He returned a short while later carrying a large cardboard box and wearing an interesting expression. Artemis managed to look both mischievous, like a schoolboy who has put a tack on his teacher's chair, and simultaneously apprehensive, like a schoolboy who fears the fiery reprisals that his prank will no doubt result in.

Stopping before Holly, Artemis placed the box at her feet and took several hasty steps backwards. "This should allow you to blend in with the London crowds with no difficulty captain. If you remember we used a similar tactic when entering Taipei 101 in Taiwan".

With deep suspicion clearly visible on the fairy captain's face, Holly stooped and, with her back to Artemis, Foaly and Qwan, opened the lid of the box. There was a long, pregnant silence. At last Holly said, in a cool, calm voice that was infinitely more terrifying than the bellow of a rabid troll, "Artemis choose your next words carefully, because they may be your last. This is a sick joke _isn't_?"

"What is it?" asked Foaly, his natural curiosity getting the better of him. Using his superior height the centaur peered over Holly's shoulder and, upon seeing the contents of box, burst out laughing. "Oh brilliant! That is just brilliant! Fowl you truly are a genius. You'll look great in that Holly, it really suits you!"

"Shut up pony boy!" snarled Holly, blushing crimson. "If you think I'm putting _that_ on then you're even crazier than you look!"

Inside the cardboard box was a slightly worn, but well preserved child's dress; intended for a girl of around seven years old. It had long sleeves, ending in white lace trim, it reached down to the ankle, had several large, white silk bows running down its front and was made of heavy, red velvet. The ensemble was completed by a large, broad brimmed straw hat, decorated by several artificial pink flowers. Artemis raised his hands defensively as Holly turned on him like an angry puma about to go for the throat of some luckless deer. "Now before you do anything rash, Holly, please let me explain. This dress originally belonged to my great, great grandmother, Alice Fowl. It is almost a hundred and seventy years old, and had been used by generations of Fowl daughters down the years in games of dressing up. Although not perhaps in its prime it has survived rather well I think, all things considered. As long as you keep the hat pulled down firmly, this disguise should conceal your true nature from any onlookers".

Qwan, who had been peering in good natured confusion from the dress to the furious Holly, now asked politely "I am afraid I do not understand. Master Fowl's plan would seem quite valid under the circumstances. Why do you argue against it Captain Short? Do you see some flaw in the disguise?" Just as with hair, demons have very little practical experience when it come to matters concerning clothing, as they generally do not wear any themselves.

"You got that right! I wouldn't wear that thing to save my pension!" Holly cried furiously.

"But would you wear it to potentially save the lives of every fairy and human on Earth, and those of countless billions as yet unborn?" asked Artemis, in the manner of a chess grand master declaring check mate.

For a moment Holly swelled visibly, as if she was about to scream, but then she subsided. "You know I want to catch Opal more than anyone. You know that I'd do anything to stop her. But...but this! Please Artemis I haven't worn a dress since my school prom, and even then it was just a plain black cocktail dress. I've never even gone near anything like _that_ before" finished Holly, with something approaching a wail of despair, as she pointed at the offending item.

Artemis, who attempted with only partial success to put the alluring image of Holly wearing a cocktail dress out of his mind, said "you have bested trolls, goblin revolutionaries, demon warriors and human hit men before, Holly. This is just another obstacle to be overcome. Before you know it you'll be back in the present day and back in your jumpsuit. As you have said to me many times before: think of the mission".

Holly was silent for a few seconds and then she spun around, glaring at each member of the group in turn, and said in voice that dripped venom "if _any_ of you _ever_ tell _anyone_ about this you're either a dead fairy or a dead Mud Boy!" With that Holly picked up the box and stalked out of the room muttering what sounded like _"...ing Mud Boy... D'Arvit mission...why doesn't he wear it..._"

After perhaps ten minutes Holly returned, her face almost as red as her dress. After Artemis got over the shock of seeing the feisty and battle hardened LEP captain wearing an outfit that would have looked more at home on a china doll, he realized that his plan seemed almost foolproof. Thanks to her height and the large hat, Holly's face was almost completely hidden. On top of this the dumpy, somewhat shapeless nature of the dress concealed well the fact that Holly's body had the proportions of an adult, rather than those of a child. Before Artemis or any of the others could congratulate Holly on her disguise (or scream with laughter, in Foaly's case), she held up one threatening finger and, scowling, said "no one say a gods damn word!"

Holly glared at Artemis and asked icily "well now that you've got me looking like a first class idiot, what are you going to wear?"

"If you will give me just a moment, I shall prepare" said Artemis, walking from the room.

It did not take long for Artemis to reappear and his appearance infuriated Holly still further. "But you've just put another suit on! How come you get to wear that and I'm stuck with this? Why aren't you wearing a big, stupid powdered-wig or something?"

"I fear, Holly, you may be thinking of 17th and 18th century fashions. It is an interesting fact that, although women's styles of dress have altered immensely and near constantly over the last few hundred years, since the dawn of the 19th century the style of a gentleman's suit has barely altered at all. This one, belonging to my great, great grandfather, should do admirably". Artemis was wearing a plain black suit, of a slightly less crisp cut than those he generally favoured, a dark green waistcoat beneath his jacket and a black bowtie. The only item of clothing that would have made Artemis look out of place, if he had worn the suit in public, was a black, silk top hat, which he was currently carrying under his left arm.

"Very well then, I see no reason to delay further" said Qwan looking from Holly to Artemis. "If you will both hold hands, as you did before, I shall send you back. I am afraid that, although I should be able to put you in exactly the same time as Opal, you shall not appear in quite the same place. I will endeavour to get you as close as possible to her, but you will have to hunt for her yourselves. Good luck". So saying the demon warlock drew upon his deep internal wells of power and, without further ado, sent the human genius and the fairy captain hurtling back down the decades. The act was not particularly impressive, very different from the great time tunnel which had transported Hybras back from Limbo or the time tunnel that Opal herself had created so recently. There were no flashing lights, sparkling portals, glowing clouds of energy or anything else that a magical layman might suspect that creating a rift in time would necessarily create. However, as any great warlock knows, the above phenomena are generally the result of a showy amateur. True masters can change the very nature of the universe and the time stream without causing any needless fuss.

Foaly glanced across at the warlock and asked "there's just one thing I want to know Qwan. If you're now able to send people through time tunnels with their clothes and equipment safely, how come they've still got to hold hands? I mean, as you've made all these other advancements, that can hardly be the sort of problem that's all _that_ hard to solve".

For the first time that night Qwan chuckled "oh it's not necessary at all. I just thought they might enjoy it".

**Author's Note:**_** A rather more light-hearted chapter that one I think. I decided to use Qwan, rather than N°1, as the stories principal demon because you don't see all that much of him in the books. I have made several small changes to the way in which time tunnels and time travel in general operates in the Artemis Fowl universe because it was necessary for the sake of the plot. Sorry about that, hope you didn't mind.**_


	4. Chapter 3: The Hub of the World

**Chapter 3: The Hub of the World**

* * *

**A Back Alley, London, England, 1859**

* * *

_London. As the capital of the British Empire, the largest empire in human history, the city became the biggest, the richest and the most densely populated settlement on Earth. With a population in excess of five million in 1859, London had more than eight times as many citizens as Paris; the world's second largest city. In less than half a century the population had more than doubled. At this time, due to immigration, London had more Irish than Dublin and more Catholics than Rome._

* * *

Qwan was an extremely powerful, experienced and able warlock, but even the best of us can make mistakes. Perhaps his usually impeccable instincts and abilities when it came to placing his charges in a suitable place upon leaving one of his time tunnels was thrown off by the numerous narrow wooden walkways criss-crossing the alleyway. Whatever the reason, Artemis and Holly did indeed find themselves in a London alley, but thirty feet above ground level. They materialized balanced precariously on a slimy catwalk, only a few inches wide, which ran between two small doorways placed high in the walls of the warehouses that flanked the alley. Naturally Artemis swayed for a second, arms pinwheeling desperately for balance, and then toppled into the grey, semi-darkness below. However, less predictably, despite her police training and years of experience, Holly only fought to keep herself from falling for a few seconds and then, just as it seemed she might succeed, she stepped forward and slipped on a patch of particularly greasy mould. She lost her balance and followed Artemis' example by plummeting into the alley.

Artemis was lucky; his fall was broken by several tarpaulin awnings that were strung from building to building and finally landed on a pile of nondescript rags and oddments. Holly was less so; she dropped the full thirty feet unimpeded and only prevented herself from braking her neck by knowing the best possible position in which to land to minimize damage. Nevertheless Holly cried out in pain as she felt two of her rips crack on impact. Resisting the urge to writhe in agony, she lay perfectly still and allowed her own magic to do its work. Holly had healed so many injuries over the years, both her own and those of other people, that her healing abilities were now almost as good as those of a professional medical warlock. After less than a minute she let out a sigh of relief as she felt her broken bones knitting themselves back together and the blinding pain rapidly receded. Sitting up she found Artemis staggering towards her out of the gloom. "You OK Arty?" she called out quietly.

Artemis nodded "quite alright thank you Holly, a few bruises nothing more. But how are you, I heard you cry out?" His face showed deep concern.

"I'm fine now. I lost a couple of ribs in the fall, but they're all healed up now" Holly reassured.

"Let us hope that this does not establish a pattern for our mission, captain" said Artemis, as he helped Holly to her feet. Suddenly he frowned and asked "what was that rattle?"

Holly had heard it to, a slight rattle escaped from somewhere within her ludicrous costume every time she made an energetic movement. "I'm not sure" she admitted. "Turn around and I'll check".

"Why do I have to..." began Artemis, before realization dawned and, blushing, he immediately spun around and faced the wall.

Behind him, Artemis could hear rustling, interspersed with cursing, as Holly wrestled with her dress. "D'Arvit! What in the hell is the point of this stupid layer of ruffled lace under the skirt?"

Without turning around, Artemis remarked casually "ah captain, I believe you are referring to the petticoat. It forms a sort of second skirt. It is intended to provide the wearer with an extra layer for warmth, an improved shape to the dress and finally to act as a sort of large undergarment".

As Holly finally managed to reach her concealed holster and recover her Neutrino 3000 pistol, from which the unsettling rattle seemed to originate, she snapped back "petty as in pointless I suppose!"

Artemis chuckled. "The name comes from the old English words 'pety coote'; simply meaning a small coat, as the article of clothing was originally warn by soldiers and knights under their armour. When women took to wearing them the word became unisex and eventually came to only mean an article of women's clothing".

"Artemis?"

"Yes Holly?"

"Shut up! We have bigger problems right now than worrying about your disturbingly extensive knowledge of the etymology of the word petticoat! Namely this" so saying Holly held up her Neutrino, activated it and pulled the trigger. The green light failed to come on and a bolt of energy completely failed to erupt from the barrel and vaporize a hole in the nearby brick wall.

Artemis frowned again as he said "but Holly I do not understand. If my memory serves me, the Neutrino 3000 handgun is encased in an extremely durable shell of protective plastic polymer. Surely it would not be compromised, allowing the weapon's internal working to be damaged, simply because you fell on it?"

Suddenly Holly looked somewhat sheepish. She muttered "yes, well, it might be more than that. You see, about a week ago, I was walking across Police Plaza when I saw a couple of rowdy demons being taken in. So I lent the arresting officer a hand and, well, I kind of dropped my Neutrino. When I realized it wasn't in my holster I turned around just in time to see it being run over by a LEPTraffic magna-bike. It was fine when I checked it over, just a bit dented" she finished defensively.

Artemis raised his eyebrows in a maddeningly superior way and said "in the light of what has just happened I would suggest that it would probably have been prudent to have taken your weapon to Foaly for a full diagnostic and any necessary repairs. Not doing so was a mistake I fancy".

"A mistake?" retorted Holly sarcastically. "What you mean like building the C-Cube and letting Jon Spiro walk off with it, or selling Jayjay to the Extinctionists, or..."

"Yes, yes alright" forestalled Artemis. "The point is that, for the time being at least, you are without a firearm. This could well prove to be a complication".

As there was nothing further to be done, Artemis and Holly brushed off as much of the grime from their clothing as they could and started to walk towards where, by the increasing levels of noise, the alleyway connected with a street. "I just can't believe it though!" growled Holly. "I mean I _really_ can't believe it! The first time that I'm able to travel through a time tunnel with more than just a _one-piece_ to call my own and the first thing that happens is that my Neutrino gets broken!"

Just as the light of the street came into view Artemis said encouragingly "I am just glad that you didn't do yourself a serious injury Holly. It could have been much worse".

"Don't worry mate, there's still plenty of time for things to get worse". The harsh, guttural voice had issued from a patch of deep shadows within a doorway on the right hand side of the alley.

A moment later the speaker came into view as a short, thick set man stepped out and barred their path. He was wearing a crushed bowler hat, a filthy, ragged coat and casually carrying an ugly looking cosh. Two more men issued forth from a side passage which led into the main alleyway that Artemis and Holly had been following. The first was thin and lanky, with a face like a hungry ferret and tossing a lethal looking clasp knife from hand to hand. The second man was a bowlegged specimen with an eye patch, a face which seemed to be entirely made up of bristles and scar tissue, and holding a wooden mallet.

As the men armed with the knife and the mallet walked past Artemis and Holly, taking up positions directly behind them, the man who had first spoken did so again. "Afternoon gov'nor, how's tricks?" Without waiting for an answer he continued "now, you look like a smart gentleman, so how about you do the smart thing and hand over whatever you've got on you. You don't want to go casuin' no trouble like, now do ya? Not with your little friend here and all. I've got a heart of gold me, and I'd hate to see this little lady lying in mud with her brains bashed in".

Artemis' mind was working furiously, trying desperately to think of some clever plan that would rescue Holly and himself from the situation in which they found themselves. After all the brilliant and complex schemes he had concocted over the years, surely a few muggers shouldn't be too much trouble. But the problem before him was just so brutally simple that the genius found himself at a loss. After all there was no arguing with a mallet to the back of the head. For her part Holly was assessing the situation with the experience of a combat veteran. She came to the conclusion that if she got the jump on him she could probably take out the man standing in front of her with a well placed kick, followed up with a pinch to a nerve cluster. But by the time she had taken him down she'd never be ready to receive an attack from one of the remaining thugs. Holly discounted Artemis almost completely.

Just as Holly was bracing herself to spring at the leader of the thieves regardless, a great, dark shadow suddenly filled the entrance to the alley and the thin man behind her squeaked urgently "Frank, it's a peeler!"

Immediately Frank slid his cosh back into his jacket, turned around and said, with oily politeness, "afternoon constable, nasty weather we've been havin' lately ain't it?"

The policeman, although a goliath of a man in his own right, was made all the more towering by the addition of a tall stovepipe top hat. He wore a high collared, dark blue tailcoat, with gleaming brass buttons, black trousers and heavy duty leather boots. In the thick belt around his waist he carried a wooden ratchet rattle, a stout pair of handcuffs and a small lantern, whilst in his hand he was holding a large wooden truncheon **(1)**. Glaring down at the muggers he intoned resonantly "what might we have here then?"

Glancing hurriedly at his companions Frank said "well mister, we was just passing by and we happened to see this here young gentleman and little lass walking down this here alley. So, being the respectable and public spirited gents that we are, we was just accosting them to tell them that it might well be dangerous walking around down here. Anything might happen" the man finished virtuously, sounding about as convincing as a dwarf swearing to never pass wind again.

The constable cast his eyes around the group. "I suppose that wouldn't be a knife I see you putting in your pocket, now would it sir?"

"God love you mister, no! It's just a comb, I swear!" yelped the scrawny thief.

"And what might you be doing with that hammer I see you holding behind your back sir?" growled the giant police officer at the bowlegged man.

"What, this constable?" asked the mugger, taking the offending weapon out from its place of attempted hiding and looking at it as if it was the first time he'd ever clapped eyes on it. "Well...I'm a...umm...carpenter by trade sir. I was just on my way back to my workshop as it happens".

Glowering down upon them, like an angry Norse god about to smite several impudent mortals, the constable finally said "I know you Frank Billman, and you two, Harry Waterfield and Jim Broke You're thieving scoundrels, but I'd like to think your barks worse than your bite. Stupid yes, dishonest certainly, but not evil I hope. So get out of my sight before I arrest the lot of you or just give you all a damn good thrashing. And if I ever see you trying to part someone from their money again you'll find yourselves down in Newgate Prison, waiting to dance the hangman's jig before you can say knife. Now get out of it!" The three thugs didn't need telling twice and fled down the alley and out of sight. Turning to Artemis the constable asked seriously "now then sir, what were you doing wandering around down here? It's not safe for a young gentleman and most certainly not for a child".

Before Artemis could come up with a suitable reply, Holly did something that, when she thought back on it later, made her cringe with burning embarrassment. Putting on a high pitched, girlish voice, she lisped "ow twank you mithder policthmwan! My big bwother was juthd taking me to the pwark to pwlay, when thoths nashty men apwered. You awer not cwoss with him awer you? Pwlease dwon't be cwoss!"

Beneath the constable's thick black beard and moustache a smile shone through. Even a tear seemed to appear for a moment in one of his old, careworn eyes. "Of course I'm not angry with your brother, as long as he doesn't try taking any more dangerous short-cuts to reach your park. If you'll both just kindly walk back to the street, we'll say no more about it eh?"

Quickly doing as the constable had asked, Artemis and Holly walked out of the alley and onto a bustling pavement. They were jostled this way and that by men, women and children hurrying past and going about their business. The road before them was crowded with large goods wagons, horse and traps, wagonettes, stagecoaches, hansom cabs and carriages. Standing beside a large wooden box, stuffed with newspapers, was a boy dressed in a shabby brown suit and flat cap, shouting "read all about it! Nightmarish stories of the effects of the great solar storm! Read all about it** (2)**!"

Holly felt a burning urge to shield, but knew that she had to control her natural fairy instincts. After all, her disguise had already proved to be solid enough. Turning to Artemis she asked "well what now, where do we start looking? Oh and by the way" she added threateningly "it goes without saying that if you mention to Foaly or anyone else that I did that voice to get us out of trouble, I'll break both your legs and then heal them on backwards!"

Chuckling and deciding that, for now at least, he would say no more about Holly's baby talk, he admitted "I'm afraid I don't know. Judging my Opal's track record she could be pursuing any number of goals; from stealing, to hiring criminals to aid her, to trying to kill or destroy something or someone".

This all sounded so hopeless that a lesser person might well have given up there and then, but not so Holly Short. "Alright then, if we don't know where she is we have two objectives. First we should conduct a quick search around here, just in case she's materialized in the same immediate area as us. Unlikely but you never know. Second we should establish a base of operations somewhere where we can hold up and decide on what to do next".

"That sounds very practical and tactically sound captain" said Artemis, inclining his head with approval.

Returning the genius's nod, Holly turned and said over her shoulder to Artemis "well then Arty, there's no time like the present, let's get g..."

Artemis suddenly turned very pale, even by his standards, and shouted "Holly look out!" His hand shot forward and jerked the fairy captain back onto the pavement, and only just in time. A second later, where Holly had been standing, two large brown horses were stamping their hooves in alarm. Perhaps it was because Holly was so used to streets that were filled with speeding vehicles; either fairy hover cars or the laughably inefficient human machines, but without thinking she had stepped off the pavement and right into the path of an approaching coach.

It was a large, black, impressive conveyance, entirely enclosed and bearing upon the door a coat of arms. Sitting in the driver's seat was a portly man with large sideburns, wearing the uniform of a coachman. He was clutching the reins tightly in his left hand and holding his right over his heart. Peering down at Holly and Artemis he managed to gurgle "stone the crows, my heart's going that fast! You gave me a right fright there miss, I don't mind telling you".

Before either Holly, Artemis or the coachman could say another word, however, the door to the coach flew open and an elderly gentleman stuck his head out. He wore a plain blue coat, an immaculate white waistcoat and black top hat. He was in his late eighties by the look of him, but this clearly did not overly concern him. He had high cheekbones, a large hooked nose and incredibly piercing blue eyes. Glaring at Artemis he snapped "damn your blood sir! What the devil do you mean by letting that child walk out in front of my coach? She might have been killed!"

Although older than many of his famous portraits, Artemis recognized the man before him instantly. The face, the voice, the manner were all unmistakable; Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington **(3)**. Recovering quickly from the shock of coming face to face with one of the greatest military commanders in history, Artemis hastily apologized. "I'm sorry your grace, I can assure you that it will not happen again".

The Duke was about to unleash another tirade when suddenly he stopped...and stared. When Artemis had pulled Holly back onto the pavement he necessarily had done so with some force. This had upset Holly's large straw hat, which had been knocked askew and left one of her pointed ears exposed. At first the Duke's eyes widened with surprise, but then he glanced left and right down the street and said in a calm tone of voice "oh well, never mind, no harm done and all that eh? To show there're no hard feelings perhaps I can give the pair of you a lift to wherever it is you're going?"

Artemis shook his head politely "no thank you sir, but that is most kin..."

Before the young genius could finish the Duke leaned down from his carriage and said, in a hurried whisper "damn it lad, get that fairy in here and out of sight double quick. If anyone sees those ears of hers we'll have a riot on our hands!"

* * *

**Author's Note: **_**How does the Duke know about the People? Find out next time! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of what you might call the real story. Up until now we've just been setting the scene.**_

* * *

**Footnotes:**

**(1): **The Metropolitan Police Force was established by Sir Robert Peel (from whom the nickname _'peelers'_ originates) in 1829. It was the first official police force in England and only the third in the world (the two previous examples being the City of Glasgow Police and the Royal Irish Constabulary; set up in 1800 and 1822, respectively). These early police officers were truly remarkable men; they had to be six feet tall at least (or as near possible), they wore their uniforms at all times because there was a great fear among the general public that off-duty constables would act as spies for the government, no criminal record of any kind was permitted, they were not allowed to vote in elections and were required to ask permission from their superiors before they could get married or even eat a meal with a civilian. The top hats they wore were reinforced with iron strips to both provide the constable with addition protection and allowed him to take off his hat and use it as a step to see over walls. The famous custodian helmet, still worn today, was not introduced until 1863. The wooden rattles carried by officers for raising the alarm were phased out in the 1880's in favour of metal whistles. The Metropolitan Police Force became the model for every police force established since.

**(2): **From August 28th until September 2nd 1859, the largest solar storm ever recorded took place. The results of the gigantic solar flare, observed by the amateur British astronomer Richard C. Carrington on September 1st, were felt across the world. The light from the flare was so bright that it made night as bright as day in some parts of the world; most notably in the Caribbean and much of the western United States and Canada. Although electricity was not yet in very extensive use, the one place in which it was vital was in the telegraph systems of Europe, North America and India. While some simply shot circuited, others blew up, electrocuted their operators, caught fire and, in some cases, began randomly sending and receiving messages even after they had been disconnected. With so much fear and speculation today about the possibility of another flare of similar size or possibly even larger, one must wonder what the effects would be now that electricity is used in almost every aspect of our lives.

**(3): Historical Inaccuracy – **The inclusion in this story of the Duke of Wellington is sadly not historically accurate. By 1859 he had in fact been dead for seven years; having died in 1852 of an epileptic seizure, brought on by a stroke, at the age of 83. Despite this I felt obliged to include him for two reasons; firstly he was somewhat important to the plot, but principally because he is one of my favourite historical characters.


	5. Chapter 4: The Duke and the Ancestor

**Chapter 4: The Duke and the Ancestor**

* * *

**A Bustling Street, London, England, 1859**

* * *

The complete and utter shock of the revelation that this old human not only recognized a fairy when he saw one, but also seemed to want to help to keep their existence a secret, was such that Artemis and Holly could do nothing but stare in disbelief. The moment seemed to last an eternity, but then Artemis reached a decision. Whatever it was that was happening here, it was of vital importance that they should get to the bottom of it. Nodding to Holly he indicated the carriage door and said "after you captain".

When Artemis and Holly had climbed into the coach's dark interior and settled into the comfortable dark red leather seats (causing the fairy captain to wince noticeably as she did so), the Duke banged on the ceiling with his silver topped cane and called "alright Anderson, carry on". The driver responded immediately and a moment later the coach started forward.

Sitting opposite Artemis and Holly were two men. The first of was course the Duke of Wellington, whilst the second man was in his mid thirties and wearing a magnificent dark blue uniform, with a red breast and cuffs, and a white cross belt. He had jet- black hair, with a hint of grey, an aquiline nose, slightly sallow skin, a thin black moustache and deep blue eyes. His expression was slightly sardonic, but not so much so as to be rude. Artemis was certain that he knew the man, but for a few seconds could not think where he had seen the face before. Then he remembered, it starred down at him every day from one of the walls of the grand entrance hall of Fowl Manor. Glancing around the now slightly crowded coach, Wellington said in his customary forthright and laconic style "well I suppose a few introductions are in order. As you, young man, already seem to know, judging by your use of my title, I am Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and this is Captain Alexander Fowl of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers **(1)**".

At the mention of the officer's name Holly turned and stared in disbelief. The resemblances between Artemis and his ancestor were not as marked as those between Artemis and his father, but now that she looked they were defiantly there to be seen. Apart from the hair colour and the pale complexion, there was the man's air of superiority and the way in which he sat looking at them over the top of his steepled fingers. At last Holly and said "Captain Holly Short".

"Artemis Frond" said Artemis, only hesitating for a fraction of a second before giving a false surname.

There was a brief silence until Captain Fowl said "well your grace, it seems that your stories of these fairies were entirely true. Forgive me, but I must confess that I had my doubts".

The Duke gave a short, curt laugh "ha, that's exactly why I told you man! I presumed you'd think I'd gone mad in my old age, so no harm done and I wouldn't have broken my promise. I must admit meeting you, mademoiselle, rather complicates matters" he finished, inclining his head towards Holly.

"I'm sorry" said Holly at last "but what in the name of the gods is going on? How do you know about the People and who did you promise not to tell anyone that you knew we existed?"

Wellington's ancient face creased into a rare smile. "I can answer both your questions with a short story. Did you say you are a captain miss?"

"Yes" answered Holly, slightly defensively.

"Army or police?"

"Police" said Holly. As she replied a memory suddenly stirred within Holly's mind, but for the time being she couldn't quite place it.

Wellington nodded. "LEP I believe you call yourselves? About fifty years ago, during the Peninsula War, I was sitting in my tent one night when three little men materialized before me out of thin air. Well I didn't know what to make of it; was I losing my mind or was this some new trick of the French? However before I could decide on a course of action the leader of these small creatures stepped forward and said to me 'do not be alarmed general. I am Colonel Wren and I would like to pledge you my services, and those of my soldiers, in exchange for gold'. He told me what he was, where he had come from, that they were not strictly speaking supposed to be above ground and that it was very important that I didn't tell anyone else about their involvement".

"And you accepted his help just like that?" asked Artemis incredulously.

"That was my immediate reaction also" added Captain Fowl.

The Duke glared. "You don't know what it was like back then! You young men today think you know war? Back then it was the fate of all of Europe, nay the world, that was hanging in the balance! If the Devil himself had offered me the help of his minions in exchange for a few bags of sovereigns I'd have agreed without a seconds thought. I soon realized that I'd made the right decision. Wren's small band , no pun intended,made excellent scouts and saboteurs. The last time I saw Wren he warned me to keep on the lookout for fairy policemen, or as it has turned out a policewoman, who might try to wipe my mind somehow. I presume that is why you have come captain?"

Holly now understood why her subconscious had been trying to tell her that there was something familiar about all this. A few months before Opal's latest attempt to destroy the world a terrible plague had spread like wildfire through Haven and, in desperation, Holly had recruited some old fairies to help ease the pressure caused by the lack of manpower at Police Plaza. Rather than retired Lepers these had turned out to be old soldiers, left over from the days when the People still had a standing army. She remembered now that they had mentioned time spent as mercenaries on the surface **[A/N: see **_**Old Dogs and New Tricks**_**]**. So this was the result then? Gathering her thoughts Holly asked "and are you the only human who knows about the fairies, other than Captain Fowl here?"

Wellington considered for a moment before answering "well my old comrade Lieutenant-General Picton knew, but for all I know Wren and his men have provided their services for dozens of generals and commanders down the years".

Holly's heart sank as she remembered some of the war stories that Wren and his crew had spouted from time to time. This was the past after all, they were probably still at it right now, helping humans murder each other in some distant corner of the world, if only she could find them. But then again perhaps that would cause far more trouble than it was worth. After all she only knew that they had done those things _because_ they'd told her about them. What would happen to the time stream if they hadn't, what might that change? Holly had no idea and no desire to find out. "And where is Picton now?" she asked at last.

"He had the top of his head blown off, top hat and all, at Waterloo over forty years ago. He's buried in St. George's Church in Hanover Square. God rest his old bad tempered soul" answered the Duke simply. "But please" he added, raising a hand "are you here on some other mission besides that of wishing to rip the memories from my old mind?"

Artemis and Holly exchanged looks, and then reached and unspoken decision. "We are here hunting for a very dangerous fairy criminal mastermind. We must find her before it is too late" answered Artemis.

Wellington and Captain Fowl glanced at each other, and then Artemis's ancestor asked "and do you know where to look for this felon?"

"Not as such" admitted the captain's decedent.

The Duke of Wellington frowned. "Hunting a deadly foe when you do not know where they are is a dangerous game. However I will not say that it is fool's errand, for I myself have many times faced enemies upon the field of battle under such circumstances that many would have called me foolish. Yet still I conquered in the face of adversity. Are you at least prepared for the task of subduing her when, and I shall say when rather than if, you track her down?"

"My weapon's broken" admitted Holly, still angry at herself for allowing such a thing to happen.

Wellington gave them another of his rarely seen smiles and said "I doubt that you will accept my help in regards to lending you soldiers or police constables to aid in your search. However perhaps I can at least help you in the matter of acquiring a weapon". Turning to Captain Fowl, the Duke asked "if you would be so kind Alexander?"

Nodding, Captain Fowl delved into a holster at his hip and produced an elegant revolver. "This might be a little heavy for you to wield miss" he said to Holly "perhaps you should take this, Master Frond. It's a Tranter; the latest design and much better than those mass produced American pistols. Double-action, .50 calibre, six rounds in the cylinder and with enough stopping power to bring down a charging rhinoceros. I always carry a brace on me and can personally recommend them** (2)**".

"I think I'd better take that, heavy or not" said Holly firmly, taking the pistol and weighing it experimentally in her small hand. On several occasions she had been forced to use human weapons as a last resort, including Butler's SIG Sauer P226. However even Butler's handgun was a modern weapon, meaning that it was made largely from aluminium alloy, with steel and plastic polymer components. Although massive the SIG Sauer barely weighed more than two pounds, whereas the Tranter, made entirely from solid iron, weighed in at almost three **(3)**. A big difference if you're only three feet tall. "On second thought, you take it. For now" grunted Holly, passing the hefty revolver across to Artemis, who took it from her carefully.

Artemis had never had much sporting blood in his veins, but in recent months he had adopted several outdoor hobbies in the hope that his mother, father, Butler, Juliet and Holly would all stop badgering him to get outside once in a while. These sports included archery, riding and shooting. He had never hunted in his life, and knew well that Holly would never forgive him if he did, so Artemis restricted himself to clay pigeon shooting. Artemis's bodily coordination, or lack thereof, was legendary, but he had a steady hand and an excellent knowledge of at least the theory of the physics behind ballistics. Although he wouldn't be winning any prizes any time soon, he hoped that he at least would not be quite as useless as he would have been with the weapon a few years previously.

"And now I suppose the time has come for you to perform your duty and destroy our memoires of this occasion, and in my case those of the last fifty years?" the Duke asked Holly in an entirely relaxed tone of voice.

Holly hesitated. Wiping such a large period from the memory of a human could be dangerous, especially without the proper mind wiping technology. A simple Mesmer might not be up to the task. The fairy captain eyed the old man opposite her for a moment and then said cautiously "can you keep a secret your grace?"

"You mean can I abstain from mentioning the fact that fairies exist for a few more years until I kick the bucket?" Wellington seemed to consider this and then said "I've got rather attached to these memories captain, so I think I shall keep my trap shut and keep them if I may".

Holly turned her gaze upon Captain Alexander Fowl, expecting trouble. If this man was half as conniving as his descendent he'd probably try anything to weasel out of a mind wipe. She was therefore somewhat taken aback when the officer inclined his head politely and said "do what you must Miss Short".

Pleasantly surprised Holly explained the procedure. "OK Captain Fowl, just look into my eyes and listen to my voice, I'll do the rest. Your grace, you had better avert your eyes or else I might do you as well by accident. You too Artemis. Let me know when you're ready".

Raising a hand to forestall the fairy, Captain Fowl asked, with a smile very reminiscent of the vampiric one Artemis employed on such a regular basis "may I have a last request captain? If I am to have my mind pulled apart may I at least look decent whilst it's happening?"

Holly frowned "mind wiping isn't painful, not unless you fight it. You don't need to worry".

"Nevertheless, humour me" replied Alexander Fowl with another smile. The lancer captain took from his pocket and put on a pair of pristine white gauntlet-like gloves, smoothed out the a few minute creases in his uniform, donned a steel cavalry helmet with a blood red plume which had been resting beside him on his seat and finally sat back straight as a poker.

The interior of the carriage was not overly bright and this, combined with the shadow cast by the brim of captain's helmet, meant that now his face was mostly hidden in darkness. However although Holly could not see the man's eyes this would be of no matter as long as he could see hers. She would have quite liked to have asked Artemis's ancestor to have removed the helmet, but it was such a pleasant change to meet a human who was willing to cooperate with the Mesmer that she decided to let it stand. "Are you ready Captain Fowl? Alright, let's begin". When Holly next spoke her voice was thick with magic and irresistible to any human who made eye contact with her. Both Artemis and the Duke of Wellington felt their minds wander slightly, but both being strong willed resisted the urge to turn and watch the fairy at work. "Can you hear me Captain Fowl?"

"Yes" replied Alexander Fowl, his voice slightly slurred, as if he was on the cusp of sleep.

"Do you remember when the Duke offered a lift to a young man and a girl today?"

"Yes"

"You and the Duke gave them a lift to where they wanted to go and then they got out and left. There was nothing unusual about either of them".

"Nothing unusual" repeated the captain slowly.

"You barely talked during the journey".

"We didn't really say anything" agreed Alexander.

"The girl defiantly wasn't a fairy" Holly prompted.

"Of course not, but his Grace the Duke of Wellington has mentioned fairies to me before. I fear he may be losing his grip in his old age" said Alexander conversationally.

Holly pressed a little harder "the Duke has never mentioned fairies to you before, you haven't thought of fairies since you were a child".

"Fairies? Why I haven't paid them a thought since I was in my nursery. I doubt the Duke has ever even heard of them, he most certainly would never talk to me about them!" scoffed the officer, as if the idea were ridiculous.

Holly straightened her hat, making doubly sure that her ears were well concealed, and then said in her lisping baby's voice "thwank you fwor the wide, leths gwo Arwty".

Shaking his head, as if waking from a nap, Captain Fowl said "what? Oh yes, of course, have a safe trip now and try not to step into any more traffic my girl".

"Yes, I hope you find what you're looking for Master Frond and Miss Short" added Wellington, raising a hand in farewell. When their passengers had disembarked the Duke banged the ceiling of the carriage and they began to roll forward once more. After a moments silence the Duke said casually "you know it really is rather dark and dreary in here".

"Would you say so your grace?" asked Alexander Fowl politely.

"I would, and with that helmet of yours on I can barely see your face at all. For example, just now when that young lady was talking to you, I couldn't have sworn either way whether your eyes were open or closed. I don't suppose you remember by any chance?"

A slow, wolf-like grin spread over the face of Captain Alexander Fowl. "To be quite honest your grace, I really can't recall".

* * *

Standing on the curb Artemis and Holly watched the Duke's black coach pulling away and disappearing out of sight. Holly turned to her human friend and asked "do you know who that Captain Fowl was?"

Artemis nodded pensively "yes, my great, great uncle I believe; a highly intelligent man who became somewhat eccentric in later life. At least that's what the family history says. He built some rather strange laboratories beneath the Manor's west wing, and installed some quite ingenious traps and defences around the house and grounds. Most of his contraptions and his lab were removed by my grandfather". Artemis was quiet for a moment before chuckling "I wonder..."

"Wonder what?" asked Holly.

"Oh nothing, just a suspicion I have. I must remember to look him up further when we are back in the present, that's all".

As the pair began to walk along the street they found themselves in Holly suddenly grinned and asked "by the way, Artemis_ Frond_?"

Artemis looked down at his smiling friend, failing to see where she found humour in his hastily assumed name. "Yes Holly, it was the first name that came to mind. After all I could scarcely reveal myself as a Fowl in front of my ancestor".

"And when you came up with that name were you thinking of the fairy Royal Family or a certain Corporal Lily Frond, who I believe visited you when you were at the Doctor Argon clinic once?" asked Holly, smiling impishly.

Artemis, taken completely by surprise, blushed and blurted out "of course I wasn't thinking of Miss Frond, Holly! I really don't know why she visited me. I can only presume that she found the idea of going to see a mentally ill evil genius morbidly fascinating. Please Holly you can't think..."

Holly burst out laughing and said "relax Arty, I'm just messing with you. I know there's nothing between you and that blonde bimbo. If I thought there was neither of you would still be alive today".

In an attempt to stop Holly giggling, Artemis said "well now we have a weapon anyway, but not one that will allow us to take Opal alive".

Holly grimaced "yeah that cannon your ancestor gave you would blow here wide open, and that is not an option. If only we could get my Neutrino repaired". Suddenly a thought struck the fairy captain, who asked "hey Arty you've messed around with fairy helmets and communicators before. Could you fix my gun?"

Artemis shook his head. "I don't have the right tools with me". He was silent for a moment before saying "but you have given me an idea. I think I know someone who could help us".

* * *

**Author's Note:**_** Did Alexander Fowl escape with his memories intact? Who can say? Where does Artemis plan on getting help with repairing Holly's Neutrino 3000? I'm afraid that you'll have to wait for the chapter after next, because next time we discover what Opal's been up to.**_

* * *

**Footnotes:**

**(1): **The 5th Royal Irish Lancers was one of the oldest cavalry regiments in the British Army, originally formed in 1689. They fought with distinction during the Williamite War in Ireland, the Spanish War of Succession, the Mahdist Revolt, the Second Boer War and the First World War. However the regiment experienced a somewhat colourful career to say the least; having been renamed, disgraced and disbanded, redeemed and reformed, renamed again, amalgamated and finally disbanded for good in 1922 (after Ireland was granted its independence). Bearing this in mind it is perhaps not surprising that the regimental motto was_ Quis separabit_; who shall separate us? The regiment's battle honours and traditions today live on in the 4th Squadron of the Queen's Royal Lancers.

**(2): **The Tranter revolver was designed and built by the British gunsmith William Tranter in 1856. It was a very powerful, reliable, accurate and robust pistol, gaining widespread popularity among British officers throughout the empire and by Confederate officers during the American Civil War. Unlike contemporary American revolvers, such as the famous Colt 1851 Navy Revolver, the Tranter's entire frame, barrel and butt were all forged from a single piece of iron, thus making it incredibly strong. The double-action feature, adopted from the slightly earlier and equally popular Beaumont-Adams Revolver, meant that, unlike many other revolvers of its day, the Tranter could be fired with just one pull of its trigger. A single-action revolver forces the user to cock the hammer back manually before they are able to fire. This method is considerably slower.

**(3): **For those of you who like their measurements metric, that's 0.964 kg and 1.27 kg, respectively. Personally I like my measurements imperial; miles, feet, stone, tons etc.


	6. Chapter 5: Jack, Adam, Charley and Jack

**Chapter 5: Jack, Adam, Charley and Jack**

* * *

**A Deserted House, London, England, 1859**

* * *

Behind a burnt out and empty old house, somewhere in the heart of London's East End, was a patch of bare earth piled high with rubbish, overgrown with weeds and enclosed by a high wall. This had once been a pleasant little garden, just as the house behind it at once been a fine and well cared for dwelling. But now all was silent, all still, nothing but rats, worms and woodlice. Well not quite. Seated high atop the crumbling brick wall and dangling his feet over the edge was a very unusual individual indeed. He was just over three feet tall, wore dark grey trousers, black boots, a black jacket with white ivory buttons, an odd leathery cape and a hardened black leather helmet, complete with goggles fitted with orange glass lenses and two large bat-like ears. The face, that is what could be seen of it, was sharp, angular and wearing a mischievous grin. He was reading a somewhat damp and ragged newspaper, liberated from a nearby gutter, and cackling quietly to himself. The article which had caused the strange gentleman such hilarity was as follows:

'_Spring-Heeled Jack Strikes Again! Last night a most fearful and repugnant crime was committed by one that can only be the infamous Spring-Heeled Jack. A young servant girl, who wishes to remain nameless, was returning from her place of work to her home when she was set upon most frightfully by a creature dressed in black, with the bat-like, leathery wings and the fiery glowing eyes of a demon. He screeched at the young lady in a strange and mysterious language, which she could not comprehend, and then proceed to make a shocking assault upon her person. Thankfully a constable of the law heard her cries for aid. When he challenged the attacker he fled from the arbiter of justice and then, in a most astonishing fashion, leapt over a ten foot high wall with no difficulty at all and made good his escape. Who and what is this creature of night? Where is he now? Will he strike again? How can he be stopped _**(1)**_?'_

The figure sniggered, that had been so much fun. The girl, a pretty red haired maid, had shrieked like anything when he'd jumped out at her from that alleyway. Had it really been a shocking attack though? _All_ he'd done was rip her dress to sheds with the metallic claws built into his gloves and scarred the Mud Wench half to death! Glancing back over the article the stranger scowled briefly. Bloody coppers! Even on the surface they were always butting in and ruining everything! He mused that there was one point in the report which was not entirely accurate, however. Leathery wings? Hardly. Glancing over his shoulder the creature eyed his wings lovingly; they were more like those of an elegant, kingly dragonfly, he thought, and not some flying rodent. Kingly they might have been, but they were not fully functional. Having been involved in a nasty bar fight with a goblin during his misspent youth, he could now only glide and perform great bounding jumps. True flight was now beyond him. The sprite carelessly tossed the newspaper over his shoulder into the filth strewn garden behind him and turned his eyes skyward. To the humans he was Spring- Heeled Jack; mysterious criminal of the night. To the LEP he was Shinny Saltus; a sprite wanted in connection with dozens of robberies in Haven and a fair number of assault charges. He'd escaped to the surface over two decades ago and hadn't gone below ground since. Fairies have long memories and fairy policemen longer than most. On top of that Shinny had got used to life in the human world...and it showed.

Sprites are distantly related to some species of flying insects (in the same way that humans are distantly related to bushbabies) and like certain species of moths and butterflies, it is not unknown for Sprites to adopt certain colours from their natural surrounds. In millennia past this allowed them to remain camouflaged whilst perched high in the tree tops, searching for their next meal and avoiding larger predators, but in the modern world this once highly useful evolutionary trait had become essentially useless. It had over the years largely dropped out of the sprite gene pool and fairy scientists predicted that within a century or two it would be gone altogether. These days only a very few sprites still found themselves gradually turning to the same colour as their sofa cushions or wallpaper. However Shinny was one of these few and, after living in Victorian London for twenty years, he found that his once lime green skin had turned a dusty grey; the colour of smoke blackened chimneys and smog choked rooftops. Unsightly as this was it did provide him with a knack for keeping out of sight on dark nights when he wanted to and consequently he was rather surprised when an imperious voice suddenly spoke to him out of the darkness below. Shinny was doubly surprised because the voice was speaking in gnommish! "You are the one the Mud Men call Spring-Heeled Jack?

The sprite's immediate thought was that some LEP scumsucker had finally caught up with him and he would have taken to his legendary heels there and then if it had not been for an insatiable curiosity to see who had tracked him down. Peering down from his high perch Shinny perceived, standing in the gloom and looking up at him, a female pixie with long red hair, large eyes and an expression as determined as continental drift. Slightly nonplussed he said at last "who wants know?"

"Come down here at once and listen to me" said the pixie, in a tone of voice that suggested that she was not used to being disobeyed. However when Shinny remained motionless she added irritably "come down here and I will tell you how you can become richer than you can imagine".

At the mention of unimaginable wealth the sprite's pointed ears pricked up and after a few seconds of consideration he jumped easily to the ground. Standing before her, prepared to run at the slightest hint that this diminutive pixie girl was actually an undercover LEP operative, he said "err yeah sure thing love. Spring-Heeled Jack, that's what these Mud Muppets call me. But who are you when you're at home then and what do I have to do for you for all that aforementioned money you alluding to just now?"

It is hard to look down on someone contemptuously when you are almost a foot shorter than they are, but this pixie woman managed it fairly well. "I am Opal Kobi; future queen and mistress of all of all of creation".

"Yeah right, sorry love I've never heard of you" chuckled Shinny. Suddenly he frowned and added "hang on though, Kobi...why does that name ring a bell? Oh yeah that industrialist lad Ferrall Koboi of Koboi Industries. I robed one of his company's offices once I think. What are you his sister or something?"

Opal scowled and resisted her natural impulse to use a bolt of demon energy to reduce this impudent fool to ash. She never allowed anyone to mention her father; a moderately talented and prosperous designer and inventor, who had been out competed, bankrupt and driven to insanity by his own daughter. However, Opal reminded herself, this was over a hundred and fifty years ago; her father was a young engineer who had just started up his first company and she was not yet born. Rather than dwelling on the subject of her loathed father she instead returned to the matter at hand. "You are Shinny Saltus; the best sprite thief of the 19th century. You evaded capture by the LEP for over two decades correct?"

Shinny looked panicky "OK first thing how in the name of Frond's sceptre do you know who I am? Secondly what do you mean _evaded the LEP for two decades_? You make it sound like I'm about to be recaptured or something! Those knickerbocker wearing idiots aren't getting their hands on me anytime soon!"

Little did Shinny know that before Opal had travelled back to her chosen time period she had researched many potential human and fairy criminals who could potentially help her accomplish her plan. The historical records clearly stated that Shinny Saltus escaped from a police raid on his apartment and fled Haven in 1836 and was finally tracked down in London in 1859. However, Opal mused, she was after all here to change history so it was possible that if she let the sprite burglar live he might well change his fate. "It does not matter how I know what I know" she snapped "all that matters is that I require your services. Do what I tell you, serve me well and faithfully, and the rewards will be great. Disobey me and..." Opal created a lightning bolt out of thin air and blew a head sized hole in the brick wall upon which Shinny had been seated "you will not live to regret it".

Shinny was a practical sprite. On the one hand was pay and possible life (he was by no means a stupid fairy and knew that when this little adventure was nearing its end he'd have to be watching his back very carefully for a double-cross), whilst on the other hand was no money and certain, fiery death. Tearing his eyes away from the molten hole blasted through the bricks behind him he turned to Opal and said "alright love, I'm in".

"Excellent!" said Opal, in the excited voice of a child who had just been told what her birthday treat is going to be. As she began to walk away, Shinny striding along behind her, she added over her shoulder "oh and by the way Mr Saltus. If you ever call me anything other than Mistress or Queen Opal again, for example '_love'_, I shall boil your brain so that it explodes out of your eye sockets. Are we clear? Lovely, follow me my dear".

* * *

**London Bridge, London, England, 1859**

* * *

London Bridge **(2)**, usually one of the busiest parts of the city, was almost deserted at such a late hour. Every few minutes a cab or carriage would rattle across its cobbles and few pedestrians, braving the bitter cold of the night and the thick river fog, could still be seen making their way from the north bank of the Thames to the south, or vice versa. Amongst these late night travellers were two men; the first of a solid build and medium height, the second thin and an inch or so taller than his companion. As they approached through the swirling mist further details of these gentlemen could be more readily seen. The more heavily built of the two was perhaps in his mid to late thirties, had black hair liberally streaked with grey, impressive sideburns, a thick moustache and deep set brown eyes. He wore a plain and practical brown suit and black top hat. The thin man couldn't have been older than twenty five; he was smoking the stub of a cigarette, wore a fairly shabby suit and had a face that simply exuded dishonestly. Tossing the butt of his cigarette into the Thames the man glanced around, whistled and then said "gee these English fogs are about as thick as my old ma's pea soup! I ain't seen a mist like this even on the Mississippi in mid winter!"

The older man raised a bushy eyebrow and said "as it happens, Mr. Bullard, Londoners sometimes refer to a particularly thick fog as a 'pea souper'. The density it the result of the mist becoming mixed with smoke, soot and ash from the city".

Shaking his head, Mr Bullard whistled again and then asked "gosh darn it Mr. Worth, ain't there nothing you don't know?"

"I am sure there are a few things, Charles" replied Mr. Worth simply.

"Charles, Mr. Bullard? Oh come on Mr. Worth, I've told you before. Call my Piano Charley, heck everyone does!"

Before Mr. Worth could reply to his younger countryman's request for him to use his nickname, something happened which entirely distracted him. Out of thin air (or rather out of thick, smog choked air) before them appeared to small beings. The first was male and resembled an overgrown bat, whilst the second was a small woman, with pointed ears and searching eyes. Both men stopped in their tracks and starred as the diminutive lady looking between them searchingly before saying "you are Adam Worth; _so called_ criminal mastermind **(3)**, and you are Charles W. Bullard; safecracker and thief **(4)**?"

Naturally it was Worth who recovered first "I am sorry young lady, but I have never heard of either of those gentlemen before. I am Charles H. Wells, a Texas oil baron, and this is my private secretary. Now if you don't mind we shall be on our way".

Consulting her vast, encyclopaedic memory Opal tossed her hair irritably "Charles H. Wells, Henry Judson Raymond, Adam Worth, take your pick. It matters not to me which of your names you wish to use. You are supposedly quite intelligent, for a human that is, and I have need of a man with local knowledge. The services of a master thief would also not go amiss. Do as I say, help me accomplish one task, and you shall both be richly rewarded".

Worth was silent for a few long seconds, before at last saying "from your use of the phase 'for a human' I take it that you and your comrade are not in fact humans yourselves. If I choose to believe this it presents several possible explanations; firstly that you are visitors from another world, secondly you are hidden natives of this one or finally that you are minions of the Devil. I am inclined to discount the last theory as unlikely, which narrows it down to the first and second".

Realizing that at least a little explanation would be required Opal said tersely "I am a pixie, you may address me as Mistress or Queen Opal, and this helper of mine is a sprite".

Charley, who had been starring in dumb struck amazement at the two aspirations before him, laughed "a pixie and a sprite? What's next, a leprechaun?"

"I hope not, human" muttered the bat-like sprite, glancing over his shoulder suspiciously.

This entire scenario was too far-fetched for Worth's liking and if he did not always implicitly trust his own eyes and ears over all other sources, he would have dismissed this ludicrous situation as impossible. However the fact remained that two tiny people were standing before him, both of whom seemed to be able to become invisible at will, and one of them was offering a substantial reward for services rendered. Like any criminal, Worth, and he knew for a fact Bullard, had a great liking for wealth; so therefore this promise alone was tempting. However he was also a genius and therefore sensed that, harmless as this little woman appeared, she would be extremely dangerous to cross. "What exactly do you require madam?"

"Follow me and you shall see" replied Opal, before adding with a frown "and I thought I told you to call me Mistress or Queen Opal?"

A sarcastic smile spread across Worth's face. "So you did, I am most sincerely sorry. But surely a title such as Empress Opal would be more fitting for one as divine as yourself?"

Anyone else would have heard the sarcasm, Piano Charley and Shinny Saltus certainly did, but Opal simply simpered. She had become so used to people fawning over her that it never crossed her mind that the human's compliment might be loaded to bursting point with mockery."Oh _Adam_ you are such a charmer! I can tell you are going to be my favourite servant already. Now come, we have one more friend to find this evening before our happy little family is ready".

* * *

**Whitechapel, London, England, 1859**

* * *

"_Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil_" – Plato

"_The lack of money is the root of all evil_" – Mark Twain

"_No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks_" – Mary Wollstonecraft

There are many quotes originating from great men and women upon the subject of evil. Many of these quotes are highly relevant to humanity as a whole...but not to all men. Such a man stood in the flickering circle of light cast by a gas lit street lamp in an utterly deserted street in the heart of Whitechapel; one of the poorest and most rundown districts of London's East End. He was not ignorant and yet he was evil, he was not poor and yet he was evil, and he chose the path of evil for its own sake. To look upon him one would never suspect that a dark, merciless malice lurked in his heart. You would suspect nothing, only realizing your terrible error when it was far too late. The man was the epitome of a tall, dark and handsome gentleman; elegant features, a neat black suit, white starched shirt, black bowtie, a black opera cape and a tall black top hat. Even the fairy criminal archives, which were generally far more expansive than their human counterparts, had next to nothing on this man. All the report on this murderer contained was a list of his victims, dozens of theories as to his identity and, of course, his nickname. Jack the Ripper **(5)**.

Jack heard the sound of approaching footstep and, turning his head casually, he saw a rather odd group standing at the edge of the light cast by the lamp above him; two men, a small winged creature and a small woman. If he was surprised he did nothing to show it, instead he swept off his top hat, bowed low and said to the young woman "good even mademoiselle, charmed to make your acquaintance".

Opal found herself blushing; this man was really quite good looking for a human and his smile was the personification of charming. But then she looked into his eyes and the pixie suddenly remembered who and what this gentleman truly was. The irises were pitch-black, as dark as the pupils they surrounded, making them look like miniature holes onto nothing. But more worrying still was the look the eyes held; a burning, passionate, animal hunger. The longer you looked into eyes like that the greater the chance that you'd be completely hypnotized when the man himself made his move and sliced you wide open. Pulling herself together Opal gave the murderer the haughtiest look she could muster and said "I am the great pixie Opal Kobi, future Queen of Time, and I want you to help me accomplish a small task. I have two thieves, a mastermind and now I need a killer".

Once again if Jack was intrigued or shocked by her words he gave no indication. "Why my dear Miss Kobi, what makes you think that I am a murderer?"

Opal drew herself up to her full and not particularly impressive height and said "I have great magical powers. I knew that you would be in this region of this filth encrusted city and with my new found abilities I could sense the blackness of your heart a street away".

Most men would have thought this nothing but the ravings of a deranged mind, but Jack nodded politely, as if ceding a point. "And why should I aide you in this little mission of yours my darling Opal. Not wishing to be discourteous of course" he added, once again bowing to the pixie.

"Do as I command and you will be rewarded with gold, as much as you could possibly want" answered Opal, safe in the knowledge that here the conversation ended. After all what Mud Man would not sell his soul for a few gold coins?

However what Opal had forgotten was that the man standing before her had no soul to sell. Unlike Shinny Saltus, whose eyes had immediately lit up like fireworks at the mention of money, unlike Adam Worth, who had allowed his moustache to twitch with interest, and unlike Piano Charley, who had grinned and actually rubbed his hands together with glee, Jack stood still as stone. And then...he started to laugh. It was an unnatural sound which chilled Opal and her recently acquired followers to their very bones. At last he chuckled "what would I want with gold? Can you hold gold in your hand and hear its heart beat? Can you rip out that heart and watch as it twitches and spasms in your hand?"

Opal was utterly thrown for a moment, but then her vast intellect suggested a possible alternative means of getting the murderer's support for her cause. "This mission will be dangerous; there will be opponents to be overcome".

The amused smile vanished instantly, to be replaced by a look of rapt attention. "Will there be throats to cut?" When Opal nodded he grinned, replacing his top hat on his head and said "then I shall join you Miss Kobi. I will follow you if you lead me to blood".

Just as the now complete party began to walk away Opal said, in her deadly innocent voice "oh and Mr Ripper, you will call me Mistress or Queen Opal. If you do not I shall destroy you". Opal was a highly intelligent fairy and knew that once, many thousands of years ago, humans had possessed strong magic. However now they had none. She knew this to be true and was therefore shocked when, seemingly without moving at all, Jack the Ripper was standing over her. He had one arm draped affectionately around her shoulders, whilst he looked down at her with the sort of kind expression a man might wear when he was offering his fiancé his coat on a cold night. However his right hand was pressed to her throat and in it he held a scalpel of such razor sharpness that Opal realized that the slightest increase of pressure would sever her windpipe and jugular vein in a single stroke.

In the same polite tone of voice that he had employed earlier Jack said pleasantly "just as you say Mistress Opal. But please do not threaten me again, or I am afraid I shall be forced to give into my curiosity. You are pixie did you say? Now I wonder if your organs are of a corresponding size to those of a human woman, or are they different? Perhaps you have completely dissimilar internal tissue structures altogether. I would love take a look, but my great affection and respect for you compels me not to. I advise that you make sure that it remains so". Releasing a stunned and horrified Opal from his grasp, Jack offered her his arm and said "now please mistress, lead on".

* * *

**Author's Note:**_** Three very different criminal encounters there; the roguish fairy thief, the cunning mastermind and his accomplice, and the polite, urbane and terrifying murderer. I hope you liked meeting the opposition. Next time we return to Artemis and Holly, and discover how the young genius hopes to repair Holly's damaged Neutrino.**_

* * *

**Footnotes:**

**(1): **Between the years 1837 and the present day dozens, if not hundreds, of sightings of a mysterious, often violent and mysterious leaping figure, referred to as Spring-Heeled Jack, have been reported across Britain. The various descriptions of the figure generally agree on several points; strange glowing eyes, often black clothing, claws, a cape or wings, behaving in an antagonistic if not actually life threatening manner and always performing incredible feats of jumping. Some, if not probably many, of these sightings can almost certainly be written off as hoaxes made up by the witnesses. However various explanations have been put forward to explain the creature; ranging from the supernatural (an alien visitor, a demonic creature, a violent poltergeist, the Devil and even a fairy have all been suggested), to the rather more credible theory that he was actually an aristocratic prankster; his supernatural appearance and abilities simply being the by-product of the fanciful imaginations of the public. His repeated appearance down the years can be accredited to copy-cat criminals; adopting an already existing persona with which to perform their crimes. The Author personally believes in the latter theory. However the truth about who (or what) Spring- Heeled Jack truly was (and is?) will most likely remain a mystery.

**(2): **The London Bridge referred to here should not be confused with either the London Bridge of the nursery rhyme ("_London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady_") or the London Bridge which crosses the Thames today. The bridge of the rhyme most probably refers to the medieval bridge constructed in 1209, whereas the bridge that bears the name and spans the river today was built in 1973. The London Bridge that features here was constructed between 1824 and 1831, and is most famous for the fact that, when it was discovered to be slowly sinking into the riverbed in 1967, it was deconstructed stone by stone, labelled and numbered, and then sold to the American business tycoon Robert P. McCulloch. McCulloch had the bridge shipped to the States and then reassembled in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, to form part of an old-England themed shopping centre. A popular urban legend persists that McCulloch bought the bridge believing that it was the more famous and iconic Tower Bridge, but this is probably untrue (it was certainly denied by McCulloch, but then again he would have to).

**(3): Historical Inaccuracy:** Adam Worth was born in Germany in 1844 and consequently would only have been fifteen in 1859. The criminal careers of both Worth and Bullard flourished some years after this story is set; principally between 1866 and 1892. Adam Worth moved from Germany to the United States with his family when he was five years old. At seventeen he lied about his age and joined the Union army to fight during the Civil War. He served in the 2nd New York Heavy Artillery regiment. After being wounded at the Second Battle of Bull Run he decided to leave the army and turned instead to a life of crime. Over the years he rose from a humble pickpocket in New York to the most renowned and wanted criminal mastermind in the world. Across Europe he stole priceless works of art, organized bank robberies, smuggled diamonds and built up a criminal empire that stretched from Paris to Istanbul. He even eluded the best efforts Allan Pinkerton, perhaps the greatest detective of the century, to capture him. In 1892 he travelled to Brussels to see if he could help his long time friend and accomplice Charles Bullard to escape from prison, but he was informed that he had recently died. Shortly afterwards he was arrested whilst attempting to pull off a robbery of a bank delivery cart. Using his great intellect he managed to secure only a seven year prison sentence and was released early on grounds of good behaviour. Worth committed one last robbery in 1897 and then seems to have gone straight. He died in 1902 in London and was buried in a mass pauper's grave under one of his many false names. He is today most famous as the man upon whom Arthur Conan Doyle's character of Professor Moriarty was based. Robert Anderson, a Scotland Yard detective who pursued Worth for many years, referred to him as the "the Napoleon of the criminal world".

**(4): Historical Inaccuracy: **Charles Bullard would only have been a very young child in 1859. As previously mentioned; the criminal careers of both Worth and Bullard flourished some years after this story is set. Charles W. Bullard (or Piano Charley, a nickname derived from his skill as a musician) was one of the best safecrackers in the business and assisted Worth on many occasions. He was rescued from prison by Worth in 1869 and afterwards travelled with him to Europe. Together they pulled off many incredible robberies, but the greatest of those in which Bullard was involved was probably the theft of $200,000 from a Boston Bank only a few months after he was broken out of jail. In today's terms they succeeded in stealing in excess of $385,000,000. Whilst working for another criminal mastermind, Max Shinburn, in 1892, Charles was captured and shortly afterwards died in prison.

**(5): ****Historical Inaccuracy: **Jack the Ripper committed his first murder (that we know of) in 1887 or 1888; therefore he is something of an anachronism in this story. However, as arguably the most famous murderer in history and easily the most famous Victorian criminal, I simply couldn't leave him out of the story. The interest in the Ripper, that has persisted undimmed since he claimed his first victim, is largely due to the fact that he was never caught. He brutally murdered at least five women, and possibly as many as ten or eleven, between 1887-1891 (although the key killings, those which were most likely his own and not simply grisly murderers attributed to him, took place in 1888). There are dozens of theories about the identity of the Ripper, most as unlikely as the next; ranging from a journalist to a barrister, and even the famous author of _Alice in Wonderland_ Lewis Carroll. The Author personally believes the theory that the Ripper must have had some medical training as either a doctor or a surgeon, as many of the wounds he inflicted were done so with such precision that they simply could not have been performed by someone who did not know what they were doing. When he removed organs from his victims he seems to have always known exactly where to look for them and when he wanted to, on occasion, he knew exactly where to cut his victims where they would die almost without bleeding at all and appear as if merely asleep.


	7. Chapter 6: The Great Engineer

**Chapter 6: The Great Engineer**

* * *

**Westminster, London, England, 1859**

* * *

In the early hours of the morning a hansom cab pulled into Duke Street in Westminster and stopped. From it alighted a slightly dishevelled looking gentleman. Paying his fare he turned and slowly made his way towards one of the large and imposing houses that lined the street. He was a short man, standing at just over five feet, but he wore a tall top hat which helped to disguise his height (or lack thereof). His suit was dusty and his boots encrusted with dried mud, and brick and coal dust. His face, framed by black sideburns, was drawn and pale. Although he looked utterly exhausted, he nevertheless wore an expression of steely determination. Instead of waiting for one of the servants, most of whom would probably be asleep anyway,he unlocked his front door and let himself in. He stopped in the hall and winced. Even the short walk from the cab to his home had resulted in one of his blasted headaches. To make matters worse, when all he wished for was a moments peace, a maid suddenly appeared at his shoulder and said "please Mr Brunel, there's a young gentleman and little girl to see you in your study sir, thank you sir".

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, master engineer and inventor, groaned **(1)**. He had been down at John Scott Russell's shipyards for eighteen solid hours, slaving over the final stages of his latest and greatest achievement, the _SS __Great Eastern_, and now he was supposed to entertain guests at two in the morning? Irritatedly, Brunel asked "who are they and what on earth do they want at this time of night?"

The maid suddenly frowned and said slowly, in a confused voice "I...I...don't know who they are sir. They need to see you about something important. There is nothing strange about them that might have alarmed me and I think I will probably forget all about them after they leave".

Brunel, who had just been in the act of hanging up his coat and removing his iconic stovepipe top hat, paused. Taken aback he turned and asked "are you feeling alright Mary?"

Mary bobbed a curtsey and answered "fine sir, thank you for asking sir. But please sir it's very important that you speak to them because...because it is".

Brunel shook his head as he strode towards his study. That girl Mary hadn't been quite right since she'd been attacked a few nights previously by that rogue the papers were calling 'Spring-heeled Jack'. Not that he believed in such nonsense of course. The maid's assailant had most probably been some drunken _gentleman_ playing a foolish practical joke **(2)**. However it had seemed as if she had been recovering well from the shock until now. Perhaps, Brunel mused, he should consider suggesting to the unfortunate girl that she paid a visit to the Bethlem Royal Hospital for a check-up **(3)**. Opening his study door Brunel walked into the book-lined room and saw, standing beside the fireplace, the two guests whose business was apparently so important that it couldn't wait until a less ungodly hour. The gentleman was a sombre looking youth with raven hair, pale skin and a pair of mismatched eyes. His companion, surely his sister due to the fact she shared the same strange trait of having both a blue and a hazel eye, was wearing a frumpy red velvet dress and an expression of wary suspicion.

The boy who looked like a well dressed undertaker's assistant, stepped forward and extended his hand in greeting. "Mr. Brunel, it is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance. Allow me to introduce myself and my friend here. I am Artemis Fowl and this Holly Short. I do hope you will forgive us calling upon you at this late hour but we urgently require your assistance".

Brunel, not to be out done in curtsey, shook Artemis' proffered hand and inclined his head politely towards Holly. "Please think nothing of it. I don't believe we've met before, Master Fowl. What precisely is it that I can do for you?"

Artemis glanced at Holly, hesitated for a moment and then said "Mr. Brunel, my friend and I are need of your assistance in a matter concerning the repair of certain item. I hope that the damage it not severe, but to open the device specialised tools will be required. Given time I could have found them myself, but time is of the essence and so I decided to come to you".

Brunel's eyes had by now adjusted to the somewhat darkened conditions of his study, lit only by the light of the small fire burning in the grate. Now that he looked closely something wasn't quite right about this Master Fowl's friend Miss Short. Although at first glance she appeared to be nothing more than a young girl dressed in a hideous frock, on closer inspection the engineer noticed several small discrepancies. For one thing there was her stance and manner, so very unlike his own young daughter Florence. Calm and confident, like a great jungle cat ready to spring into action at the slightest hint of trouble. Then there was the matter of what he could see of her face from beneath the large straw hat she wore. The expression was assertive and alert. Her mismatched eyes seemed to be scanning him, as if she was in the process of calculating whether or not he posed a threat. The longer Brunel looked, the less like a girl and the more like a fully grown woman this strange young lady appeared. At last he asked "who _are_ you two?"

After another short pause Artemis replied simply "Miss Short and I have come to this time and place from the future, the 21st century to be precise. Although I am human, she is actually a fairy police officer. We are in search of another fairy, a dangerous criminal, who we must apprehend before it is too late. The item we require you to repair is my friend's pistol, which she damaged during our arrival in your time".

Holly didn't know how she'd expected Artemis to answer the human inventor's question, but she certainly hadn't expected him to tell the _truth_! "Artemis!" Holly shouted, pushing up the brim of her hat so that she could glare at him with greater ease. "Have you finally gone completely insane? I suppose next you want to tell him where the nearest shuttle port is and give him a street map of Haven?"

The engineer stood stock still, his vast mind assessing the information he had just received and calculating what to make of it. On the one hand he was a man with both feet firmly planted on the ground; he believed in the power of coal, the strength of cast iron and the might of the steam engine. He had no time or patience for myths and legends. Fairies, time travel and _female_ police constables? What bilge! However Brunel was also a firm believer in trusting his own eyes and was not a man who would deny something if substantial proof could be produced in favour of it. "Can you support those outlandish claims, young man?" he asked, looking between his two odd guests.

"The time travel part I'm afraid I cannot. You will simply have to take my word for it" admitted Artemis. "But as to the species and occupation of my companion, Captain Short, I can most certainly provide you with evidence that I hope will be enough to convince you that we are who we say we are". Turning to the fairy officer, Artemis asked "if you would be so kind Holly, a demonstration of your shield should be sufficient, I would hope, to persuade Mr. Brunel here that you are no human child".

Holly, who was beginning to feel as if this whole business was a lot more trouble than it was worth, rolled her eyes and then vanished completely, or so it seemed, into thin air. After Brunel had gasped in amazement and taken an instinctive step backwards, the light of fascination shone brightly through his eyes. "Incredible" he murmured. Squinting closer the inventor added, more to himself than anyone else "I can see a slight shimmer in the air...hmmm perhaps they force themselves to act like mirrors and reflect their surroundings, thereby creating the illusion to the naked eye of invisibility".

Artemis was impressed "actually fairies vibrate at high speed; meaning that they are never in one place long enough to be truly seen".

"_Incredible_! Imagine if one could harness such power, the possibilities...an army, a ship, a train, anything could be made to vanish at will! But the slight flickering might pose a problem. Perhaps if one could devise a substance that would act as a sort of second skin. If it was applied so that it completely covered the fairy, or any other object, it could vibrate with them at exactly the same speed and thereby help to conceal them still further".

Before Artemis had been impressed, but now he was, for one of the rare occasions in his life, amazed. In a few seconds Brunel had in effect come up with an idea that was essentially the shimmer suit technology that had only recently been developed by the People. "Well if you are satisfied that Captain Short is indeed a fairy sir, then perhaps we can move onto proving to you that she is a police officer. By doing so we can also get to the matter at hand and show you the item that requires repair".

Turning to Artemis, Brunel said eagerly "I think we can safely say that I am convinced, Master Fowl. Please have the young lady produce the object and I will see if there is anything I can do".

Holly settled back into the visible spectrum and said pointedly "well? Both of you turn round then".

"Why..." began Brunel, before Artemis took him by the arm.

"My friend doesn't usually wear that dress, you see, it's a disguise. Unfortunately it's proving to be something of a hindrance".

Realising what the young genius was driving at, Brunel nodded and turned around. After brief pause, punctuated only by some _sotto voce_ muttering in gnomish, Holly produced the damaged Neutrino 3000 and, after telling the two humans that they could look once more, she handed it to Brunel. Holly had misgivings about this plan, but when it really came down to it she trusted Artemis. With the air of a pilgrim receiving a holy relic, Brunel carefully took the fairy weapon and carried it to his desk. Lighting a gas lamp to provide himself with as much illumination as possible, the engineer took what resembled a jeweller's eye glass from his pocket, screwed it into his eye and peered at the Neutrino. "What, might I ask, is the pistol's bodywork made of? It in a way resembles the vulcanized rubber of Charles Goodyear and seems to be lighter than steel or aluminium".

"It's an extremely durable and lightweight plastic polymer. Plastic is a substance that is indeed derived from the same process that is responsible for rubber **(4)**" explained Artemis.

"I see" murmured Brunel. He raised the handgun to examine it still closer. "There are several screws here. Unfastening them should allow me access to the weapon's interior and then we can see what is amiss. Hmm the screw heads do not appear to have drives of any kind. Most intriguing".

"Ah yes" said Artemis, nodding in agreement. "Fairy screws make do without them, might I suggest using a..."

"A magnet should do the trick" Brunel said to himself, rummaging in a desk draw. Holly couldn't help grinning, she considered it good for Arty to meet someone every now and again who didn't require his help solving their problems. After all the young Irish genius' ego was swollen enough as it was. Finally Brunel found what he was looking for; a small cylindrical leather case, bound shut with a length of coarse string. When this was removed the case opened up like a scroll; revealing, neatly stored in small loops and pockets, an incredible array of tools. Brunel selected a small magnet of about the same size and shape as a postage stamp, and carefully began to rotate it above one of the fairy screws. A moment later he drew a diminutive pair of tweezers from the case and slowly began to unscrew. This process of magnet followed by tweezers was repeated several times until at last, with a grunt of satisfaction, a panel was released and the Neutrino's inner workings were laid bare. Inspecting the handgun's interior, Brunel asked with interest "please, how is ammunition inserted? I cannot see a cylinder or magazine of any kind".

"That's because it doesn't use ammo, it converts energy from a nuclear battery into shots" said Holly, before adding uncertainly "umm you do know what a battery is right?" D'Arvit, she was a police officer, not a human studies historian! For all she knew back in this time humans still hadn't discovered electricity, let alone batteries.

Brunel frowned "of course madam, what do you take me for?" Examining the power cell the engineer asked at last "so this new-killer battery, is it rechargeable?"

"Well...no" answered Holly, before adding slightly defensively "but it has a lifespan of over a millennia".

Brunel chuckled "don't worry miss, it's a magnificent weapon, but you can't expect it to have everything can you? That French chap, Gaston Planté, has just developed a battery which can be recharged over and over again indefinitely, perhaps the fellow who designed this should take a look at his design **(5)**". This time it was Artemis' turn to smile at the idea of what Foaly would say if he and Holly told him that a Victorian human inventor had suggested that his Neutrino 3000 design was anything other than perfection personified. It would probably do the egotistical centaur a lot of good and Artemis resolved to mention it to him the next time they met under circumstances that did not involve a near end of the world scenario.

Brunel suddenly looked up, as if only now realising what Holly had said in regards to the longevity of the Neutrino's power cell. "Pardon me, but did you say a _millennia_?" If the inventor's eyes had been shining with interest before, now they fairly glowed. "Is it possible? Why if power was no object imagine what could be achieved! Ships that would never need to be refuelled and factories that would never need to cease production. The sky, the depths of the ocean, the heart of the Earth and perhaps even the vastness of the cosmos would no longer be beyond our reach!"

Noticing Holly's wince at the mention of mankind travelling to her home, Artemis said "thank you very much for your help Mr. Brunel, perhaps you would like me to take over? I'm sure that now you have opened the device I shall be able to locate the problem".

Brunel smiled and inclined his head "I'm sure you could, young time traveller from the far flung future. But please, humour me, allow me to take a look". With his back to Artemis and Holly, Brunel began working. As he did so he kept up a muttered dialogue "this should be attached here I think...nasty dent in that...tighten that up a bit there...ah there's the rattling component anyway...which goes in around here by the look of it...a drop or two of solder ought to do the trick". This continued for several minutes until at last he reattached the screws, turned to face his human and fairy guests, and said "try it now".

Holly took the proffered weapon and, with a silent prayer, flicked the activation switch. The lights that surrounded the pistol's grip immediately glowed green as the handgun recognized its owner's fingerprints. She shook the Neutrino and was overjoyed that it no longer sounded like a baby's rattle. "I think you did it!" said Holly joyously, grinning happily. "Thanks, I don't feel like I'm walking around this city helpless and naked any more".

"Don't mention it Miss Short, but be gentle with it. I have done my best, but I would strongly advice turning it over to your own engineers as soon as possible for a full repair. For now at least don't go giving it any more nasty knocks and it should be fine" answered Brunel. Looking between Artemis and Holly, Brunel raised an eyebrow and then said "well, what happens now?"

"I'm sorry sir, what do you mean?" asked Artemis.

Smiling, Brunel replied "well I would imagine that you are either going to kill me or, and I rather hope the latter, wipe away all memory of this remarkable evening by some means. Perhaps mind suppressing drugs? Your young friend is one of a hidden race that relies on secrecy for their security, therefore it will be imperative to her that I should not be allowed to wander freely with such dangerous knowledge in my keeping. Hence it must be removed, one way or another. Simple logic".

"Well I've got good news and bad news" Holly quipped "the good news is that of course we're not going to kill you. The bad news is yes, I'm afraid we are going to have to wipe your memory of tonight".

Just as Brunel was bowing his head, accepting the inevitable, Artemis stepped forward. "Actually Holly I don't think that that will be necessary. I'm sure that we can trust Mr. Brunel here to keep his peace. After all his help we surly owe him our trust".

"What!?" shouted Holly, horrified. "You can't be serious Artemis, after all he's seen? I'm sorry but no way, not this time. I have to mesmerize him; as an LEP officer it's my duty first and foremost to protect the safety of the People. If I don't wipe this man's mind I might as well use my badge as a drinks coaster!"

Turning so that he had his back to Brunel, Artemis looked Holly very seriously in the eyes and said "Holly, please trust me. We can leave Mr. Brunel with his memories intact. I feel absolutely certain that in doing so we will not endanger the People".

Holly bawled her fists and gritted her teeth, ready to argue her point to the finish, but something stopped her. As she had already been forced to admit many times before, she did trust Artemis. She also reminded herself that Artemis now had the People's best interests at heart and if he said that the course of action he proposed would not bring the fairies harm then...well she believed him. "OK Artemis, we'll do it your way. But I want a full explanation later alright?"

"Certainly captain" answered Artemis. Turning once again to Brunel he said "well then sir, I think that our business is complete. Thank you very much for your help and your hospitality".

Smiling and not quite able to believe his luck, Brunel shook Artemis and then Holly warmly by the hand. "Don't mention it my boy, it was truly a pleasure". As he walked them towards his front door he asked "so you can alter a person's memory can you? That would explain why my maid Mary was acting so oddly earlier, I'd put it down to her nasty attack last week. She claims that it was that fellow Spring-heeled Jack you know, the one the papers say is a devil or a ghost or some such rubbish. Mind you" he admitted, after a brief pause "now that I know fairies exist perhaps I shouldn't be so quick as to dismiss other beings I would usually label without a seconds thought as sheer hokum".

Holly had stopped dead in her tracks and was starring at the engineer in shock. "Did you say Spring-heeled Jack attacked her?"

"Why yes, you've heard of him I take it?" answered Brunel, slightly surprised by the fairy's reaction.

"Arty" said Holly urgently "we may have our first lead".

"Well it seems that we must be going. Good night Mr. Brunel, it has been an honour meeting you" said Artemis, shaking the engineer's hand one last time, before he and Holly took their leave.

Left alone in his own hall, Brunel paced back to his study, rubbing his hands together with delight. They had left him with his memories and he planned to put them to excellent use. Not that he would be telling anyone about the location or existence of the fairies of course, he had no desire to enrage those technologically advanced, diminutive creatures. No, but what he _would_ do was put the lessons he had learnt to good use. Brunel smiled broadly, despite the renewed onset of another headache. Tomorrow he would go down to the shipyards, have another meeting with the blasted press and then get on with the very last finishing touches to his Great Babe **(6)**. Soon she would be ready to make her first crossing of the Atlantic and then...what? With the tricks he had learnt from just a brief glimpse into the interior of the Neutrino 3000, Brunel felt certain that he would be able to design machines that would change the world. Perhaps another tunnel, this time running beneath the English Channel, or a brand new type of locomotive, faster and more powerful than any every built before. Who knew what else? The world would be his oyster.

* * *

When at last Artemis and Holly found themselves standing in Duke Street once more, the fairy captain turned to her companion and asked angrily "Artemis, why did you stop me from mind wiping Brunel? Even if you don't think he'll blab about the People, don't you think he'll use what he's learned about fairy technology? For all you know we may have just changed history; humanity may end up with planes or space ships a hundred years before they should!"

Artemis sighed and looked down at Holly with sorrow in his eyes. "Holly, tell me, did you happen to notice the date on Brunel's calendar?"

Anyone else would have said that of course they hadn't, but Holly was a born police officer and consequently had a superb memory for details. It was this talent that made her such an excellent investigating officer, rarely missing any clue that was to be found at a crime scene. "Hmm, it was September 1859, but I didn't see the day. I think it was a single digit though".

Artemis nodded "it was the 4th of September, captain. I presume you do not know the relevance of that date?" When Holly shook her head, Artemis continued "tomorrow will be the 5th and Brunel will, as usual, head for the Russell shipyards and continue to work on his mighty ship the _SS Great Eastern_. On board he will pose for the press for a photograph in front of the base of one of the colossal funnels. Moments later he will collapse, having suffered a stroke. He will be returned here to his house where, ten days later, he will die at the age of 53. He does not live to see his ship sail".

Holly looked over her shoulder towards the house that they had just left and shivered. There was something undeniably..._creepy_ about knowing what was going to happen in a few short hours to the man that she had just been speaking with. "You knew that, the whole time we were in there?" asked Holly quietly.

"No Holly, I only realized that tomorrow was Brunel's fateful day when he was working on your Neutrino 3000. My eyes wondered and I happened to notice the calendar. Initially, of course, I had planned to have you mind wipe him when he had aided us, but when I realized how little time he had left I decided that it was unnecessary". Artemis winced slightly "it was not easy continuing to behave as usual knowing...what I did.".

Holly laid her hand comfortingly on Artemis forearm. "That can't have been easy Arty, I'm sorry". After a moments silence she added "we really should get going you know".

Falling into step beside Holly, Artemis asked "where _are_ we going?"

As they walked hurriedly along London's now mostly deserted streets, Holly explained. "Many LEP observation posts are hundreds of years old. We set them up in suitable, secret locations and then use them for generations. Sometimes they have to be abandoned or relocated, but not always. I remember I was on a stakeout in London when I was a Recon rookie, barely out of my sixties, and the officer I was on duty with told me that the post we were manning had been in use on and off for several centuries. If he was right we can use it to recuperate and plan our next move, which should be to find Spring-heeled Jack".

Artemis frowned "the name is vaguely familiar; as far as I can remember he is a figure of English folklore and urban myth. I presume that he was actually a fairy?"

"Yes, a sprite. Real name Shinny Saltus; he was one of the most famous cat burglars, thieves and con-artists in the People's history. He finally had to flee Haven for good and started, just like dear old Mulch, robbing on the surface. He also took a liking to attacking people for fun, using his wings to escape pursuit, and wearing a costume that made him look like a sort of demonic alien bat. He was eventually caught in London. He's still in the Deeps Maximum Security Prison. We learnt about him at the Police Academy. If he's around here somewhere you can guarantee Opal will enlist him. She never likes to get her hands dirty if she can help it and Shinny is just the sort of person that she'd use".

* * *

**Tower of London, London, England, 1859**

* * *

After perhaps half an hour of walking Holly had led Artemis to a site that he recognized well. "Your fairy observation post is in the Tower of London?" he asked, surprised.

Holly shook her head "no, not exactly". The fairy began to slowly walk along the path that led around the fortress's long drained outer moat. Periodically she glanced up at the great square keep, as if trying to get her bearings. At last she stopped by an iron bollard which seemed, to a casual or even conscientious observer, to be utterly unremarkable. "This is it" said Holly, running her hands over the squat post "now all I've got to do is find the...yes here it is!" At the base of the column was what appeared to be a nondescript iron bolt with a large hole in its centre. "It's a simple camouflaged combination lock, all I have to do is give it the right code and we're in" explained Holly. "This is really basic stuff, they'd mostly phased them out when I joined up. Foaly would laugh himself sick at this sort of security".

"And what is the combination?" asked Artemis, dubiously.

"I don't know" admitted Holly, before raising a finger to forestall Artemis's inevitable rebuke to add "but I do know someone who does".

Artemis was mystified "who?"

Holly grinned "turn around again". This was followed by the usual rustling, until Holly said triumphantly "got it, let's hope old-school fairy locks are just as susceptible to an omnitool as the human variety". With the omnitool that had been a gift from her beloved mother in her hand, Holly inserted the tip of the device into the camouflaged lock. Immediately the omnitool began to click and buzz, whilst the end revolved left and right at incredible speed. In less than five seconds the job was done and, with a solemn grating sound, a section of pavement a few feet away from Holly and Artemis slid back to reveal a narrow stairway leading into the bank of the moat. She winked at Artemis "come on in Arty, I wouldn't want you to catch your death of cold".

Following Holly down the steps, Artemis found himself in a room that resembled a small and extremely untidy command centre. In the middle of the room was a steel table covered in maps, several computer consoles, a medical kit, a box of human cigars, a couple of communicators, dozens of files stuffed with notes crawled in gnommish and various tools, weapons and other pieces of miscellaneous equipment. Around the walls were lockers and cabinets containing no doubt still more fairy gear. Several of these had pin-up posters decorating them, generally depicting scantily clad elfin girls in a variety of alluring poses. Leading off the main room were four doors; one leading to the observation post's shower and lavatory facilities, whilst the other three led to bedrooms contained bunks for the LEP officers manning the position.

"It's not Fowl Manor, but it'll do" said Holly, glancing around the room with an almost affectionate smile on her lips. This was swiftly wiped away when she noticed the pin-ups. "Those things make me sick! When I first arrived at Police Plaza they were all over the locker rooms. That is until I beat seven different shades of snot out of a sprite who asked me if I'd pose for one with Lily Frond. After that they all _mysteriously_ disappeared".

Artemis was barley listening, only allowing himself a brief moment to think that a pin-up of Holly would be worth its weight in gold. Something about this place was not quite right, but he just couldn't put his finger on exactly what.

Holly walked across the room and settled herself as comfortably as she could in one of the post's folding metal chairs. "It's a funny thing Arty, it's so long since I was last here and yet this place looks exactly as I remember it. Even down to the..."

"Holly we have to leave here at once!" said Artemis, his voice suddenly far from its usual measured calm. Holly's words had finally jogged his mind into realizing what was out of place here and set alarms bells ringing.

Looking up in surprise, Holly asked "why, what's wrong?"

"The last time you were here you were on a stakeout with a fellow officer. In other words this post was occupied. If it now looks exactly as you remember it do you know what that means?"

Holly's eyes suddenly opened in shock "it means this place is in use right now!"

Holly was just about to jump up from her seat when, without the slightest warning, the hidden entrance of the observation post slid back once more and three figures strode down the steps. They all stopped and stood staring in amazement at their two unexpected guests. Each of them were wearing the old LEP uniform; dark green jackets, knickerbockers and buckled shoes. However, here the similarities between these Recon officers and human representations of leprechauns ceased entirely. Rather than the green capotain hats that they were so often depicted wearing in human folk tales and fairy period movies, each elf instead wore a helmet that resembled a German Pickelhaube. In place of a central spike emerging from the top of the helmet there was instead an acorn, life size and gold plated. Each officer had a large pair of opaque green goggles, giving them the appearance of overgrown insects. Over their jackets they wore sturdy polymer cuirasses, once again bearing the LEP insignia of the acorn; this time emblazoned over a pair of crossed oak leaves. Rather than the tiny wrist computers that Holly was used to, the officers' left forearms were almost entirely taken up by vambraces that came equipped with clunky built-in keyboards, small screens and radio transmitters. The two flanking elves were a private and a corporal, both of whom were carrying what Holly recognized as Neutrino 500s; the old pistol that she had first practised with at the Police Academy's firing range. The central elf, standing between his two companions, was a captain; a well built fairy probably in his early nineties. His chin was covered in several days-worth of coarse stubble and stuck in the corner of his mouth was the last inch of what no doubt had once been an impressive cigar. Upon seeing the intruders he had drawn a tri-barrelled blaster and was now swinging his aim from Artemis to Holly and back again.

"D'Arvit, who in Frond's name are you two supposed to be and what the hell are you doing in my OP?" he snarled. Neither Artemis nor Holly answered the captain, instead they both simply stared at his cuirass. Stencilled in black block capitals in the breastplate's upper left hand corner was CPT. ROOT. J.

* * *

**Author's Note:**_** A bit of a cliff-hanger ending there! How will Holly react to meeting her mentor and commander when he was a just Recon hotshot? Incidentally, for those who don't know and I'm sure you all do, Cpt. is the standard abbreviation of the rank of captain. I'll be away on holiday for the next two weeks, with no access to a computer, so I'm afraid it will be a while before I can post the next chapter. Sorry about that. **_

* * *

**Footnotes:**

**(1): **In a century abounding with great inventors and engineers, men who forever changed the world we live in today with their genius, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was one of the greatest. In his sadly short life of only 53 years Brunel designed and built nine different railway networks (using a revolutionary broad**-**gauge system that provided a superior quality of comfort never before equalled and rarely seen since), dozens of bridges (including the magnificent Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Royal Albert Bridge) and countless dockyards, stations, observatories, tunnels and other building projects. He was also involved in the construction of the Thames Tunnel; the first tunnel ever built that ran under a river. He even attempted to build an atmospheric railway; a railway upon which trains would be propelled along by air power alone. 164 years later and this technology still, for the most part, eludes us, with the Chinese announcing that they may be able to implement it at some point in the next decade. However, undeniably Brunel's greatest claims to fame were his mighty ships. The _SS Great Western_, built in 1836, was the largest ship that had ever been constructed and the first steam-powered vessel designed to cross the Atlantic. The _SS Great Britain_, built in 1843, was, upon its completion, once again the largest ship ever and the first ocean going ship built entirely of iron. Finally the _SS Great Eastern_, launched in 1858 (setting sail on her maiden voyage in 1859), was not only over twice as long as Brunel's previous ship, but it would also remain the largest ship in history for almost half a century, until the _RMS Celtic_ in 1901. It was the Great Eastern that laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1865. One brief story that illustrates Brunel's genius as an engineer took place during the ship's maiden voyage. Just off the coast of Long Island the captain and bridge crew detected a slight vibration, but upon inspection no damage or leaks could be found. The passengers never even noticed the incident. But, upon arriving into New York it, it was discovered that a protruding rock (that now bears the name the 'Great Eastern Rock') had torn a hole 83 feet long and 9 feet wide in the ship's port side. However, thanks to Brunel's double hull design, the Great Eastern suffered no serious damage. A hole sixty times smaller than this sank the _RMS Titanic_ in 1912!

**(2): Historical Inaccuracy: **Although the attack described here is fictitious it is based on a genuine incident. A servant girl by the name of Mary Stevens was assaulted by a mysterious figure whilst she was walking across Clapham Common late one night in 1837. This was in fact the very first reported sighting of the man or creature that would later become known as Spring-heeled Jack.

**(3): **Bethlem Royal Hospital, the oldest mental hospital in the world (established in 1330), is now regarded as one of the finest institutes for the care of the mentally ill and is at the cutting edge of that particular medical field. However, during the early years of the 19th century and before, it was little more than a prison designed to prevent its patients from injuring others or themselves. The chaotic, noisy and confused nature of the establishment led to the slang name for the hospital, _B__edlam_, coming to mean madness in itself. At the time that this story is set Bethlem was located in the imposing building designed by James Lewis that today houses the Imperial War Museum.

**(4): **In 1859, although rubber was well known and widely used, true plastics had not yet been developed. However, only three years after this story is set, in 1862, the first man-made plastic was created by the British inventor Alexander Parkes and put on display at the London World Fair. It was not, however, until the early years of the 20th century and especially after the First World War that development of plastics flourished; leading to the discovery of such substances as Bakelite, polythene and nylon.

**(5): **Only a few months prior to this story French inventor and physicist Gaston Planté created the world's first rechargeable battery; a landmark in the history of stored power. Planté, employing that classic combination of brilliance and simplicity, reasoned that if to charge a battery initially you needed to pass a current through it, all that was required to recharge it was to repeat the process with a reverse current. Thereby the chemical reaction which had created the electricity in the first place would have been reversed and could therefore be performed again. Planté only designed a prototype in 1859, it was not until 1881 that the battery became available for purchase. It immediately became popular to light railway carriages and would go on to be adapted by fellow French inventor Camille Alphonse Faure in the first electric cars. The basic concept of Planté design is still in use today in certain types of batteries (generally in those in which weight is no object).

**(6): **"The Great Babe" was Brunel's pet name for his beloved ship the _SS Great Eastern._


	8. Chapter 7: Cops and Robbers

**Chapter 7: Cops and Robbers**

* * *

**LEP Observation Post, Tower of London, London, England, 1859**

* * *

The shock of meeting her old commander, mentor and good friend Julius Root so unexpectedly utterly robbed Holly of the power of speech. She could do nothing but stare at the elf as all the feelings of pain and loss came rushing back. She saw, in her mind's eye, for the millionth time, Commander Root's face as it had been in the moment of his death; pale and drawn with pain, but calm and unafraid. And then he had vanished in a flash of flame, reduced to ash as Opal Koboi's explosive device that had been crushing his ribs detonated. Many times Holly had awoken in the middle of the night with a cry of anguish and dripping with sweat, as she relived that horrific scenario in her nightmares. The dream often played out differently; sometimes her mother, Artemis or one of her other dearest friends and loved ones was there as well, trapped beside Root in the same way. On occasion she had found herself with one of the octopus-like metallic bombs clamped to her own chest; crushing her ribs until they cracked and sent splinters of bone driving into her lungs. But, however the nightmare played out, it always ended the same way; just as it had that fateful day.

But this wasn't Commander Root as she had known him, a grizzled and grey-haired old warhorse. In the here and now he was a tough looking young captain, only a few years older than Holly was herself. His hair, what she could see of it under his helmet, was dark brown and his build was rather slighter than it was destined to become in later decades. She had first set eyes on Root when he had come to the Police Academy when she was still a student there and had growled his way through a lecture on zero tolerance policies towards the Goblin Triads. Even then he had been over a century older than he was here.

Root had pushed up his goggles so that they rested on his forehead, better allowing him to give the intruders the benefit of his fiery glare. "Alright let's try that again shall we? I want to know who you are right now so that I can right your names down on the charge-sheet when I arrest you both for trespassing on police property".

"The captain asked you a question!" snapped the private standing on Captain Root's left.

Holly had been so completely occupied by the sudden appearance of her dead commander that she only now realized that she also recognized both the other fairy officers. The private, at least a decade her junior, was a thin youth who had a look in his eyes so common in new recruits; a burning desire to prove himself worthy of his place in Recon. One day this scrawny kid would be Captain Vein, one of Recon's most battle hardened, veteran officers. A lifetime of savage skirmishes and the loss of dozens of comrades would harden both his appearance and his nature. The right side of his face would be reduced to a mass of scar tissue by a goblin fireball, a trampling from a rampaging troll would cause him to forever afterwards walk with a limp and a gunshot wound to the hand received during a raid on a fairy black-market trader's warehouse would cost him two fingers. Not to mention hundreds of other _relatively_ more minor battle scars. In Holly's own time the eager, gung-ho private had become a quiet, stoic captain. He rarely spoke unless spoken to and simply aimed at getting the job done. There had even been talk of promoting him to major and perhaps even to Recon commander, as opposed to Trouble Kelp, after Root's death. However, when the prospect of promotion had been laid before him, he had simply stated that he would turn in his badge if they tried it. A combat officer was not only all he wanted to be, it was all he knew.

The corporal, who must surely have been Holly's own age, had the appearance of an intelligent fairy and a professional officer; sharp eyes, a steady hand and a calm expression. Before Holly had joined the force Prasinus Evergreen had been a rising star in the LEP. He often lectured at the academy, was well liked by both his fellow officers and the Council (something very rare indeed) and it had seemed certain that he was destined to reach the rank of commander and perhaps even, in a few centuries, Council Chairman. However it was not to be. Just prior to Holly joining Recon, Turnball Root had kidnapped Major Evergreen, tortured him into revealing the location that Commander Root had chosen for Holly's own initiation test and had then given him a heavy dose of a memory suppressing drug. The illegal chemical had not only wiped all memory of the incident from Evergreen's mind, it also caused permanent brain damage. The effect of this was that he behaved very much like a human suffering from Alzheimer's disease and, like many of those who contracted that tragic illness, he tried his best to conceal its effects from his fellow officers. On several occasions Holly had talked to him for some time and has been initially pleasantly surprised to find him perfectly himself. However, after several minutes of conversation, you began to notice things; the same turn of phrase used over and over again, the same order given multiple times, a momentary confusion over a name and so on. He had been kept on both out of pity and because, during his more lucid moments, he was still cable of fulfilling a role at Police Plaza. However any hopes of him becoming a commander or gaining a seat on the Council had been utterly dashed. Holly felt a fresh wave of sadness as she realized that the futures of all three of the men before her were far from happy.

All these thoughts passed through her mind in a handful of seconds and, with difficulty, she pushed aside her feelings towards the tragedies of the future so that she could focus on the present. In a tone of easy confidence, far from how she really felt at that moment, Holly said "don't shoot captain, I'm LEP. I'm working undercover on a top secret mission of vital importance to the People and this human is assisting me".

"Ha, yeah right, and I'm a fairy godmother!" snorted Root, derisively. "There's only one girl on the Force and that's Flight Lieutenant Vinyáya. You'll have to do better than that".

Holly was stumped, unable to think of an even remotely believable cover story for why she had broken into an LEP safe house, was accompanied by a human and was wearing a ridiculous velvet dress! Suddenly Artemis said, in perfect gnomish "Captain Short here is Section Eight, gentlemen".

The three elves exchanged glances with each other. Only fairies of the rank of major or above knew anything concrete about the most covert branch of the LEP. Beyond a vague awareness of their existence, regular officers knew next to nothing about them. Before Holly had been offered a position in the ranks of Section Eight, during her brief stint as a private detective, she hadn't known where they were based, the nature of their missions, how they operated or even why they existed. Looking less certain than he had been a moment before, Captain Root said "but there aren't any female officers in Section Eight either, at least I'm sure there..."

"Sir they might have a whole Amazonian regiment for all we know" pointed out Corporal Evergreen.

The future commander scowled and said gruffly "I don't suppose you've got some proof of who you say you are?"

"Undercover operatives generally don't carry badges, captain" explained Holly. As it happened she not only had her badge concealed beneath the seemingly endless folds of her dress, but also her LEP identification card. Unfortunately, if she had shown either of these to Root, Vein and Evergreen, they would have told them such information as her date of birth and the date of that she joined the force. Such facts might well have proven rather difficult to explain.

Root glowered at Holly suspiciously until at last he grunted "alright then...captain. What's the deal with the Mud Boy? I didn't think even you cloak and dagger crazies were mad enough to work with the humans".

Here Artemis stepped forward and said "Section Eight enlisted my aid because they required a contact on the surface that could interact with other humans with ease and without arousing suspicion. I am being well paid for my services and, I am told, when the mission is completed I shall be mind wiped and returned home with no memory of these events whatsoever".

Turning to Holly and jabbing a thumb in Artemis' direction, Root asked "and how is that he can speak gnommish?"

By now Holly was prepared to answer such a question and said casually "sorry captain, that information is on a need-to-know basis. I'm sure you understand".

Captain Root turned a shade purple that his older self would have been proud of, before saying grudging "alright then, even if you really are Section Eight, I'd still like to know how you got in here and why".

At this point Artemis decided to take what others would have called a gamble, but he mentally thought of as simply a calculated risk. An LEP Recon team conducting a stakeout on the surface, very well equipped and clearly searching for someone or something (thus far having little luck, to judge by their haggard appearances), all pointed towards a high priority manhunt. If Artemis' suspicion as to whom their target might be was correct, it would convince Root and company of his and Holly's supposed Section Eight credentials and potentially enlist their help. However, if he was wrong it would place them in a very difficult position. "We are here, Captain Root, because we are looking for a criminal mastermind named Opal Kobi. We believe that she may be planning on enlisting the help of the sprite Shinny Saltus. As you and your team have been tasked with his capture it was only logical that we would seek you out to see if you knew anything pertinent. As to how we gained access to your base of operations, we naturally acquired the necessary door code from your commander. All very simple really".

There was a long silence, during which Artemis wondered if he had made a grievous error of judgment, before Root suddenly sighed and said "if you want help finding Saltus you've come to the wrong place. I don't care what Commander Kite tells the press or the Council, we're no closer to catching him than we've ever been. They say we've got him cornered because we're pretty sure he's in London, but what they forget is that there are more people in this city than every fairy settlement under the Earth put together!"

Holly remembered the name Commander Kite, even though he was before her time. Horus Kite was a sprite who held the position of Recon commander for over three centuries and was a legend in the force. The 'Old Falcon, as he had affectionately been known to his officers, had retied when Holly had been only a young girl and she could still vividly remember when, for seemingly weeks on end, every TV channel was running nothing but documentaries and news specials on him. He was Root's predecessor and it was said that it was from Kite that he had learnt much of his leadership style. "I'm sure Commander Kite's confidence in you is not misplaced, captain. My companion and I would greatly appreciate it if could give us access to whatever leads you have. Additionally we would like to use your operations post for our temporary base, at least for tonight".

Captain Root gave another grunt, turned to Private Vein and said "make room for the Section Eight captain and the Mud Boy".

Saluting, Vein replied quickly "affirmative sir, I'll get our ICE out of one of the OP's rooms ASAP and then I'll get the CPT and the MO a SITREP on our current MS **(1)**". As a young officer, Vein was still extremely proud of his knowledge of the military manual and took great pride in demonstrating his fluency in acronyms. This was something that every fresh faced recruit quickly learnt to drop.

"Just clear some space for them, alright private?" growled Root. "Evergreen, get together what information we have on Saltus and hand it over to the Section Eighters whenever they're ready for it."

"Right away sir" said Corporal Evergreen, with a tidy salute.

Although at first looking slightly crestfallen, Private Vein got on with the task of clearing out one of the operation post's side rooms. After a couple of minutes lugging kitbags, what looked like a jetpack, several pairs of boots and few other items of military clutter out of one of the bedrooms and into the main communal area, Root jerked a thumb in the direction of now empty sleeping quarters and said "there you go then, I expect you'll want to talk about us grunts behind are backs".

Holly rolled her eyes. Tact had never exactly been Julius' strong point. "Thank you for your hospitality captain". Turning, Holly walked into the small room and glanced around her. It was much as she remembered it being when she'd last used this post. To call it sparse would be something of an understatement; unpainted concrete walls, a metal table running along one wall and a bunk, beneath which was stored a thin mattress bed (thereby potentially doubling the room's sleeping accommodation if necessary). Closing the door behind them, Holly looked at Artemis and groaned "well this is just _great_".

Artemis smiled and raised an eyebrow "although, Holly, you are being sarcastic about the situation that we find ourselves in, I would say that with all variables taken into account things could be a lot worse".

"Worse?" snapped Holly, staring at Artemis in outrage. "How could things possibly be worse? We've probably corrupted the future beyond all repair, we're no closer to capturing Opal and I'm still wearing this stupid dress!"

Chuckling, Artemis said casually "because we are still in existence I would suggest that, according to several time travel theories, we have at the very least not prevented ourselves from being born. Therefore we have probably not caused any undue damage to the timeline by encountering Captain Root and his team. As long as we do not make any foolish mistakes we should be able to keep up the pretence of being Section Eight operatives".

"But what if they ask me who my commander is or anything else about the organization?" asked Holly, running her fingers through her hair distractedly.

"I consider that unlikely, Holly. After all, your average LEP officer knows very little about Section Eight" reminded Artemis. "As for your disguise, I suppose that Root, Evergreen or Vein might possibly have a spare uniform you could borrow if you really detest wearing it so much. Might I remind you, however, that you will need to don it again when we leave here. It is still imperative that we conserve every drop of magic you possess, I feel sure that we will need it before the end of this business".

Holly brightened considerably at this suggestion and then she gave an ironic laugh. "Thanks Arty, that's a good idea. Still, I never thought that I'd have to wear the old knickerbockers get up! I've always thought that it looked absolutely ridiculous".

A couple of minutes later, after Holly had ducked out into the main room of the observation post and asked if she could trouble someone to lend her a uniform, she stood facing a narrow, cracked mirror that was the bare bedroom's only decorative feature. After examining her reflection for a few moments, feeling as if she was in a dressing room trying on a new outfit (an almost completely alien concept to the no-nonsense fairy captain), she admitted "it's not actually as bad as I thought it would be. The giant, puffed up trousers are a complete joke, of course, the arms and legs are a bit too long, and the jacket's...um...tight. But as you were saying, it could be worse".

Holly had decided not to wear the cuirass or Pickelhaube-esque helmet as they were both heavy and, as she was in no danger of an imminent attack, unnecessary. Also, in latter's case, she felt certain that the barely cushioned interior of the helmet would crush her ears to such an extent that they'd ache for weeks. The uniform that she'd been lent belonged to Private Vein, who was a thin, gangly youth. Very far removed from the muscle bound, iron-hard captain he would become. Consequently she found the cuffs of the sleeves covering her hands, whilst the knickerbockers, which should have stopped just below her knees, fell to the middle of her shins. However the main problem lay with the jacket, designed as it was to fit a young man, rather than a person of the female persuasion. Artemis, who had been facing the opposite wall, turned to inspect his fairy friend. "Yes, it would appear to be, just slightly, too tight, about the chest" he said disjointedly, his embarrassment robbing him of his usual eloquence. Artemis cleared his throat and, with a superhuman effort, managed to clear his face of the blush that had been racing across it before Holly turned from the mirror and became aware of it. "Very well Holly, if you are satisfied, perhaps we should rejoin Captain Root and Co to see if they can provide us with any useful information that may aid us in finding Shinny Saltus and therefore Opal".

Upon re-entering the main room of the LEP observation post Artemis and Holly found the three Recon officers in various states of either work or relaxation. Root was leaning back in one of the post's folding metal chairs with his feet on the table and smoking a large cigar. In later life, due to advice from his medical warlock, Root had switched to smoking fairy fungus cigars, but in his younger days he had favoured the human tobacco variety. Evergreen too was seated at the table, but rather than relaxing was instead poring over a selection of maps and documents with the intent expression on his face of a man determined to outwit the opposition. Vein meanwhile was drinking a mug of sim-coffee, eating a protein bar and reading a magazine entitled _Blasters and Power Cells_ **(2)**. Noting the return of their unexpected guests the young private glanced up from his publication. He first noticed that the female captain was wearing his spare uniform (a fact that momentarily forced an idiotic grin onto his face) and secondly he spotted the pistol at her hip. Vein's eyes bulged with amazement and his mouth hung open as if he had dislocated his jaw. At last he managed to wheeze "C-C-Captain Short...what's _that_?"

Vein's exclamation of surprise drew the attention of both Root and Evergreen, each of whom stopped what they were doing to see what had so excited their young comrade. Holly rested a hand casually on her holster and said "it's a Section Eight prototype".

"Please captain, do you mind if I take a closer look?" begged Vein, his eyes now as round as saucers.

Glancing almost imperceptibly across at Artemis, Holly hesitated and then drew the pistol and handed it to the private. She not only disliked relinquishing her weapon, she also felt somehow that the less Root, Evergreen and Vein interacted with anything from the future the less chance there would be of somehow corrupting the timeline. However, it would have seemed rude, not to mention suspicious, if she had refused. Taking the handgun carefully Vein experimented with the weapon; aiming down the sight, weighing it in his hand and admiring its athletically pleasing design. Eventually he said "it's amazing, just amazing! It's so light, it's as if you're not holding a gun at all!"

In unspoken agreement, Vein passed the Neutrino 3000 to his commanding officer. Captain Root hefted it from one hand to the other, a look of disapproval and scepticism on his face. "It's too light, give me a tri-barrelled blaster any day! I don't hold with these new fangled, modern designs".

Holly couldn't help but smile. "That's exactly what I said when I first held it, but you get used to it".

Once again the weapon was handed on, this time to Corporal Evergreen, who took it as carefully as Vein had done and then proceeded to examine it, if possible, with even greater scrutiny. Holding it up to the light the corporal squinted intently at the gun, until at last the corners of his mouth twitched up in the ghost of a smile. "Does this magnificent weapon happen to have a name, Captain Short?" he asked.

Holly shook her head "as I said it's a prototype, one of a kind. I've only been granted access to it for this mission because capturing this criminal Opal is such a high priority to Section Eight".

Evergreen raised an eyebrow sardonically and then said "I see. So it definitely _isn't_ a Neutrino 3000, serial number N3-A214, then?" As Holly stared in shock, he added "and it really is a very interesting prototype, given that, according to the information stamped on the underside of the gun's barrel, it was produced in 2007 and it's power cells is designated to go offline in 3024".

There was a long, pregnant silence, until at last Captain Root growled resonantly "I think it's about time we heard the truth about who you two really are".

Artemis and Holly exchanged glances, what choice did they have? Eventually Artemis sighed and said "very well captain, you shall have it. Tell me, what do you know about demons?"

* * *

**The Apartment of Adam Worth, Mayfair, London, England, 1859**

* * *

The living room in which Opal Kobi and her newly acquired associates were sitting was large, fairly dark and sumptuously decorated. Overhead a crystal chandelier sparkled as if it was encrusted with diamonds (which, as it happened, it was) and over the fireplace hung one of Thomas Gainsborough's beautiful masterpieces; depicting an attractive woman wearing a flowing white dress and a large black bonnet, clasping a single rose to her chest, whilst her long auburn curls spilled down over her shoulders **(3)**. Leaning back in her leather, high-backed armchair and trying to ignore the fact that her legs barely reached the edge of the seat, let alone touched the floor, Opal gazed around at the three humans and one fairy that were seated around her. The eyes of both Piano Charley and Shinny Saltus kept darting around the room, fixing on the various treasures and artefacts that could be seen; clearly wondering if they might be able to pocket a handful of silver spoons or a priceless portrait miniature during the course of the evening. Adam Worth, who owned the elegant and opulent Mayfair apartment, was watching Opal intently and occasionally casting disapproving glances towards Jack the Ripper. The serial killer himself seemed the only criminal of the party entirely at his ease. He sat reclining back in his chair, smoking a Turkish cigarette and eyeing the fairy Queen with a polite, sardonic smile; rather like a cat watching an imperious mouse.

At last Opal said "I shall make this simple so that you will all understand what it is that I require of you. Naturally you do not have to understand what it is that I seek to accomplish and I doubt greatly whether any of you have the wit to comprehend my genius. Let it suffice to say that I require silver, a _very_ great deal of silver. If I can gain access to a sufficient quantity I shall...well let us say simply that my final objective will have been achieved". Looking around at the ring of criminals Opal paused for what she fondly imagined was dramatic effect. "The place from which we shall acquire this silver is the Bank of England, right here in this cesspit of a city".

This final statement was greeted by a prolonged silence, which was at last broken when Adam Worth said "I am sorry young lady, that is to say, your highness" the criminal mastermind corrected himself hastily "but have you any idea how much silver the vaults of the Bank of England hold or how well protected they are? Why even if we few were able to overwhelm the bank's guards and gain access to the vault, it would take a hundred thieves a lifetime to shift it. Which I can assure you is not a time-frame that we will find to our liking".

Opal raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow and asked sweetly "who said anything about stealing? What I intend to do with the silver can just as easily been done in the bank vault as anywhere else. And as for the guards, I am sure that our acquaintance here will be more than capable of dealing with them" so saying Opal gestured towards Jack the Ripper.

Jack smiled hungrily and inclined his head "I can very truthfully say that it will be a pleasure, madam".

Opal frowned petulantly and was on the point of admonishing the killer that if he did not call her by her proper title she would melt the flesh from his bones, when suddenly she caught his eye. He did not snarl, leer or glare, he simply gave her a polite smile. And then, whilst he was gazing charmingly at her, he licked his lips. Opal was a deranged narcissist, cruel and heartless, and yet even she could not suppress a shudder. Her photographic memory suddenly brought up a highly unwelcome recollection, hadn't the Ripper supposedly eaten the organs of some of his victims **(4)**? Opal decided that she might be prepared to overlook the familiarity of her hired murderer on this occasion. Returning her attention to the rest of her associates with some difficult she continued "in return for helping me to gain access to the silver deposits you may all take what you wish from the bank's gold reserves and strong boxes".

"If you are determined to attempt to break into the Bank of England, your highness, might I at least advise you to postpone any such action until the hours of darkness?" asked Worth, resignedly.

Opal scowled "of course we shall not attack during the day, foolish Mud Man. We move tomorrow night!"

As Opal explained some of the finer points of her plan, Adam Worth sank back into his armchair and feigned an expression of rapt attention. However the criminal mastermind's thoughts were in truth elsewhere. He had always detested brutality and never permitted any of those involved in his schemes to use violence to achieve their ends. The very idea of being involved with such monsters as the black clad fiend Jack the Ripper or this diminutive pixie, who seemingly possessed the same morals as a scalp-hunter **(5)**, disgusted him. Worth knew that his young associate Charles Bullard was a thief first and foremost, and undeniably as crooked as the day was long, but he was not an evil man. However Worth suspected that the young American safe-cracker would have no moral objection to doing nothing whilst dark deeds were done. The mastermind would have liked nothing better than to have washed his hands of this entire sorry affair, but once again his genius prompted him that Opal Kobi seemed to be a highly dangerous person to cross. So, for now at least, he would do nothing. He would watch, wait and see how events played out.

* * *

**LEP Observation Post, Tower of London, London, England, 1859**

* * *

When at last Artemis and Holly had finished explaining to Captain Root, Corporal Evergreen and Private Vein who they were, where they had come from, how demons had returned from Limbo, the basic concept of time travel and who Opal Koboi was and the risk that she posed to the safety of every fairy and human who had ever lived, would live or could live, there was a silence even longer than the one that had followed Evergreen's discovery of the Neutrino 3000's factory details. Artemis had to admit that the truth sounded not so much unlikely as completely ridiculous. Although he had not yet, in the words of the White Queen in Lewis Carroll's _Through the Looking-Glass_, got into the habit of "believing as many as six impossible things before breakfast", years of adventures with his fairy friends had done much to inure him against thinking anything was unbelievable. However, one could not expect the same natural inclination to believe the impossible from three solid police officers, even if they were fairies.

Eventually Root said slowly "well if that isn't the craziest story I've ever heard. Normally I'd say that I didn't know whether you were both mad or you thought we were. But..."

Corporal Evergreen nodded eagerly and said "your account of events is, as the captain says, most unlikely. However one must ask one's self what you could possibly have to gain from concocting such a story. Why not simply invent a believable lie? Added to that there is of course the matter of your advanced firearm".

"Yeah" put in Private Vein "that weapon of yours is like nothing I've ever even heard of before!"

Glancing at his subordinates Root said angrily "will you two shut up for a second!" Turning to Holly he added "if this Kobi character really is as dangerous as you make her out to be, then catching her has to be our priority one. I'm sure you're right and she'll be going after Shinny Saltus, but I'm afraid, as I said earlier, we really have no idea where he is".

After looking over all the various notes, maps, plans, sketches and photographs that the Recon team had been able to cobble together on the evasive sprite thief, Holly and Artemis had to admit that Captain Root was right. There was not so much as a shred of real evidence that they could use as a place to start the search for Shinny and therefore Opal. At last, setting aside a grainy aerial photograph of London, Artemis said "I think that we have gleaned as much as we can from your resources Captain Root".

"And it's not much, I'll bet" grumbled Root.

"No" admitted the human genius "and so therefore we must rely upon another source to help us accomplish our task".

"What might that be?" asked Corporal Evergreen with interest.

By way of an answer Artemis smiled a vampiric smile that was new to all but one of the fairies in the operations post and then closed his eyes. The young man sat utterly still and silent for several minutes, before at last saying quietly and without opening his eyes "the act of creating a time tunnel is difficult magic".

Holly nodded and then, remembering that Artemis currently couldn't see her, said "yes, N°1 always told me that it was just about the most difficult spell a warlock could perform".

Still with his eyes shut Artemis inclined his head once. "Therefore I think we can say that, even with Opal's considerable magical reserves, she will be feeling at least slightly drained. If she wishes, as I'm sure she does, to dominate all of time she will have to create and pass through many time tunnels, many times. _E__rgo__ratione constat_ **(6)** she will have to find a way to replenish her magic".

"OK that makes sense" said Holly. "She'll be able to refill her regular fairy magic the old fashioned way, the whole river bend-oak tree thing. But for the magic that will really matter to her, the stolen demon stuff, it won't be so easy".

A small frown crossed Artemis pale brow "ah yes, of course. The demons are descended from microscopic lunar parasites; the Earth would have no gift to bestow on a creature not native to this planet".

Holly, ignoring the looks of appalled shock on the faces of the three Recon officers at a Mud Man with an extensive knowledge of the People's most secret ceremony, nodded again. "Yeah demons replenish their magic by simply standing in the light of the full moon, kind of like sunbathing. They just soak it up. But it's not full moon for..."

"Another two weeks" supplied Evergreen helpfully.

A slight shake of the head was enough to indicate that Artemis did not find this fact to his liking. "No, Opal would have planned for this. She will not just sit around twiddling her thumbs for a fortnight waiting for the moon to complete its cycle".

With a shrug Holly added as an afterthought "well there's always silver of course. Demons have a huge affinity to the stuff and can gain power by coming into contact with it. But for her to drain enough magic to be able to create as many rifts in time as she fancied she'd need _tons_ and _tons_ of the stuff".

Artemis's eyes suddenly flew open. "Thank you very much Holly, I now know what it is that Opal plans to do and exactly where she shall strike".

"Well don't keep it to yourself Mud Boy, where's she heading?" asked Root impatiently.

"Why the only place in the country where she could possibly hope to find the amount of silver that she requires of course. The Bank of England". Strolling across the room to the operation post's table, Artemis examined a map of city and then finally murmured "Opal will not have had time to have gathered support today in time to be ready to attack the bank tonight. Neither will she be foolish enough to try anything in daylight. She will strike tomorrow night".

* * *

**Author's Note:**_** Next chapter the fate of time itself hangs in the balance. No pressure then! I know it's a bit unlikely that Captain Root and Co would be so easily convinced that Artemis and Holly were telling the truth about where they came from, what they were doing and all the rest of it. Originally I planned a long section in which Holly told each of the Recon officers things about themselves that no one could possibly know, to prove that she was from the future, but in the end I decided that it would just slow the story down. I hope you don't mind.**_

_**As I'm sure some of my readers noticed, Opal's plan of breaking into a bank but not stealing anything is somewhat similar to that of the villain Auric Goldfinger in the 1964 James Bond film **_**Goldfinger**_**. This similarity only occurred to me after I had actually written the chapter, so, although I may have been subconsciously influenced by the film, the movie reference was actually unintentional.**_

* * *

**Footnotes:**

**(1): **For the benefit of those who don't know their military acronyms; "affirmative sir, I'll get are individual carrying equipment (_gear_) out of one of the operation post's rooms as soon as possible and I'll get the captain and the militia officer (_an auxiliary officer attached to but not part of the military, such as Foaly_) a situation report on our current mission status."

**(2):** This is of course a parody of the actual magazine _Guns and Ammo_. Disclaimer: As well as not owning Artemis Fowl, the Author also does not own _Guns and Ammo_.

**(3): Historical Inaccuracy: **The Gainsborough described here is a painting of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and was painted in 1787. Although it was indeed stolen by Adam Worth, he did so in 1876 and therefore, naturally, would not have had it in his possession in 1859. Worth developed a great liking for the painting and refused to sell it, much to the chagrin of his assistants (not Charles Bullard/ Piano Charley on this occasion). When Worth travelled across Europe and the wider world during his various criminal enterprises he almost always took the painting with him. The diamonds in the chandelier are also, arguably, an historical inaccuracy. Although Worth had stolen the precious stones many times during his criminal career, his first major robbery of them took place in South Africa in the late 1870s, to the value of $500,000 (in today's terms $962,500,000).

**(4): **A letter now referred to as the 'From Hell Letter' was received by George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee (a group formed of concerned citizens who wished protect their community and attempt to catch Jack the Ripper) in October of 1880. In it the letter the writer enclosed half a human kidney and stated that "_the other piece I fried and ate it was very nice_". One of the murdered women, Catherine Eddowes, had had one of her kidneys removed with what seemed to be surgical skill and care (according to the post-mortem report of Police surgeon Dr. Frederick Brown). The letter, unlike many of the documents considered both now and at the time to be hoaxes, was not signed 'Jack the Ripper'. Instead it simply ended "_Catch me when you Can_". The 'From Hell Letter' was almost certainly the inspiration for the famous line of the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 film 'The Silence of the Lambs': "_I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti_".

**(5): **Scalping a defeated enemy was not restricted to North America during the 18th-19th centuries. Historical accounts (such as in Book IV of Herodotus' _Histories_) and archaeological evidence suggest that humans have been performing this unpleasant act upon one another for millennia all across the world. Scalp hunting, the practice of collecting scalps and then being paid for them, is an extremely old one; dating back at the very least to the early 16th century. However it was not until the 1800s that it became standardized. Both the US and Mexican governments set prices on the scalps of Native American men, women and children. In 1840 the scalp of an Apache warrior could fetch up to $300 and bounties were still being paid in Mexico as late 1870!

**(6): **"_Therefore it stands to reason_"


	9. Chapter 8: Hi-Yo Silver! Away!

**Chapter 8: Hi-Yo Silver! Away!**

* * *

**The Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, London, England, 1859**

* * *

As evening encroached on the near-permanently smog choked streets of London, lit only by the flickering gas street lamps, a lone figure could be seen walked swiftly through the gathering dark. What could not so readily be seen by the few Londoners who were still abroad, most of them hurrying home as fast as their legs would carry them, were the four invisible fairy officers jogging along beside the hurrying human youth. Holly, after some debate, had decided to remain in the old LEP uniform that she had borrowed from Private Vein, rather than changing back into the red velvet dress. Although the baggy (and in some places uncomfortably tight) uniform was far more awkward than her usual jumpsuit, it was defiantly an improvement over Artemis' great, great grandmother's frock. To avoid any extra unnecessary encumbrance she had also decided to continue to forgo the uniform's polymer cuirass and helmet. Holly would also have been perfectly happy to have left the detested dress behind, but Artemis had insisted that abandoning it was out of the question. The boy genius' reasons for this were two fold; firstly his mother would never have forgiven him if he had lost the ancient dress and secondly, he stated, that leaving anything behind in the past could have unknown and potentially catastrophic repercussions on the future. So now the dress was folded neatly and packed away in a small rucksack on Holly's back.

Despite the fact that the streets were mostly deserted and the thick, rolling fog that spilled over the city of London from the river Thames helped to muffle all sound, Artemis chose to speak in a whisper out of the corner of his mouth as he strode towards the bank. "Captain Root I do wish that we could have moved into position earlier than this. It would have been ideal if we have staked out the Bank of England all day".

From the smog choked air beside him the voice of Root grunted back, _sotto voce_, "might I remind you, human, that you didn't give us much notice. We wouldn't have had time to set up a temporary observation post so we'd have had to stand shielded in plain sight all day in the street. Not only would that have sapped are magic reserves down to nothing, but we'd also almost certainly have been spotted".

Artemis ceded the point; prior to Foaly's invention of materials that vibrated at the same speed as a shielding fairy, it was a common problem that inquisitive and observant humans noticed the slight shimmer that becoming invisible created in the air. "Regardless, captain, it is imperative that we keep watch over the bank tonight. I have no doubt that Opal plans to attempt to capture the silver reserves deposited there for her own nefarious purposes".

The massive white stone building of the Bank of England suddenly loomed out of the gloom; a magnificent architectural triumph, resembling one of the great public buildings of ancient Rome or the temples of classical Greece. Its frontage was dominated by a line of towering marble columns, the size of titanic tree trunks, each topped by intricately carved floral Corinthian capitals **(1)**. Beyond these great pillars and set back in a deep porch, lay the broad oak doors of the bank, flanked by a pair of police constables standing guard. With a sigh of relief, Holly's voice whispered beside Artemis "thank Frond, Opal hasn't attacked yet".

"Perhaps not" agreed Artemis "but I think I shall make certain that the constables have not been mesmerized. One can never be too careful where Opal Koboi is concerned".

As Artemis walked towards the sentries Root murmured angrily "Mud Men police officers? Don't make me laugh, look at the way they're standing like that! If any fairy in the LEP was seen slouching like that at his post he'd be on a charge for indiscipline and incompetence".

Artemis frowned, Captain Root was right. Metropolitan police constables were known for their rigid discipline and yet here stood two officers seemingly casually leaning against the wall behind them. On top of this neither constable had made any attempt to hail Artemis and ask him what business he had at the bank at such a late hour or, for that matter, had even registered his presence at all. Fearing suddenly that something wasn't right, he stepped forward and stopped a few feet in front of the blue-coated guards. "Constables?" he asked cautiously. Nothing. Now that Artemis was standing so close to the sentries he realized that not only were they slumped with their backs to the wall behind them, but their arms were also hanging limply at their sides and their chins were resting gently on their chests. It was in that moment that he suddenly saw, on the dark blue jacket collars of both the constables, a pair of identical stains of some still darker colour. Extending his hand, Artemis carefully touched the arm of one of the policemen, who immediately collapsed to the ground. As the man lay sprawled, his eyes starring unseeingly up at the human genius and fairy officers, a paper thin slit could clearly be seen sliced across his throat.

As Artemis and Captain Root carefully lowered the body of the second constable gently to the ground, who had been murdered in a similar fashion, Private Vein, who had turned very pale, whispered "that's...that was...so disgusting. The way they just propped up the bodies like that, I mean I didn't even know you could do that, they just killed them and then..."

"Take it easy private" cut in Holly, putting a stop to Vein's increasingly frantic babbling. "Don't worry, we'll get whoever did this and make them answer for it". It felt extremely odd to Holly, reassuring the fairy who would one day be the most battle hardened officer in the LEP.

"Well" said Artemis coldly "I think that quite decisively answers the question of whether or not Opal has made her move".

"We don't have a moment to lose, come on!" called Holly, starting forward towards the bank's doors.

"Wait captain!" shouted Corporal Evergreen, clearly startled "what about the Rule of Dwelling?"

The Rule of Dwelling was part of an ancient magical hex that King Frond had ordered his greatest warlocks to cast upon fairykind, forbidding them from ever entering a human structure without their express permission. The spell had originally been concocted to prevent fairies meddling in human affairs, but it had always been a major annoyance to the LEP. In the present day the demon warlock N°1 had easily dispersed the spell, meaning that fairy officers could do their jobs without having to worry about fits of violent vomiting and eventually losing their magic whenever they happened to cross the threshold of a human's home. However, in the here and now of 1859, the spell was as strong as it had been prior to the little demons intervention. In fact it was almost certainly stronger, as the magic had had less time to decompose since it was first cast; meaning that the building was completely impassable to the fairies. "D'Arvit!" swore Holly furiously "what in the gods names are we supposed to do now?"

After a moment or two pondering the problem, it was Artemis (predictably) who spoke. "If my memory serves me, which it generally does, my ancestors kept a sizable portion of our fortune within the vaults of the Bank of England during the 19th century. In fact I seem to recall that the current head of the family, Priam Fowl, is one of the bank's most prominent shareholders. Therefore my family, and by extension I, are part owners of the bank and I give you all my full permission to enter this building".

The fairy officers looked at each other sceptically. At last Evergreen said dubiously "I'm not sure that's how it works, I mean what with you coming from the future and all".

Root drew his tri-barrelled blaster and growled "well there's only one way to find out". He stepped forward, placed the flat of his free hand on the door and shoved. It swung open easily, the lock having already been picked by one of Opal's cohorts. Root hesitated for a second and then crossed the threshold. For a second each member of the party, even Artemis, stood in tense silence waiting for the fairy captain to start throwing up his guts. But the moment passed. Root remained standing and in complete control of his digestive system. He let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and then said "alright men, and girl, and Mud Boy, follow me!"

As Artemis, Holly, Root, Evergreen and Vein charged through the main atrium of the Bank of England they saw fresh signs of the presence of Opal and her criminal accomplices. The bodies of several night watchmen lay sprawled around the entrance hall. Some of them had been savagely ripped apart, as if by a wild animal, whilst others had met the same fate as the constables by the doors; killed with a surgical neatness that was almost more disturbing that the bloody slaughter. The lock of each door they came to had either been forced or picked.

"That's Opal's work" said Holly, indicating a heavy set iron lock that had been reduced to a mass of melted metal. "She's using her magical plasma".

Root shook his head and gave a low whistle "D'Arvit! That must use up a hell of a lot of power".

Artemis looked thoughtful as he answered. "You raise an interesting point captain. Although Opal has become exceedingly powerful, even she will have her limits. Having already used a time tunnel spell and, if I know Miss Koboi, made no attempt thus far to conserve her new found magical abilities, she may well now be feeling a little parched. If we can prevent her from gaining access to the silver reserves here, her powers will be living on borrowed time".

Holly grinned "and when she runs dry, we grab her".

"Precisely" replied Artemis, answering Holly's grin with a vampiric smile of his own.

At last, after passing many more dead staff and watchmen, Artemis, Holly and the Recon officers came to a flight of stone steps, leading down deep beneath the ground floor of the bank. After descending for what felt like a maddeningly long time, the group finally came to a low ceilinged box-room. Against one wall was a desk, behind which sat the corpse of a bank guard, whilst opposite them was a massive solid steel door. The centre of the impressive barrier had once been occupied by several combination locks and a large wheel with which to crank back the many iron bars that kept the door secure. Now, however, all the intricate devices for the protection of the bank's wealth had been melted into molten slag and the door lay wide open. The fairies and human all looked at each other; beyond lay the vault and from it were drifting the sounds of excited voices.

* * *

Piano Charley and Shinny Saltus were both ransacking their way through the vault's near-countless strong boxes; each thief grabbing fistfuls of precious stones, jewellery, jingling bags of gold sovereigns and other priceless objects. Jack the Ripper stood languidly leaning against a pillar, smiling sardonically at the human and fairy criminals as they argued over the possession of a ruby encrusted broach, whilst casually cleaning the blood from the blade of a scalpel with his handkerchief. Meanwhile Adam Worth had taken a leather case from his pocket and from this extracted a small lock-pick, and was now down on one knee beside the gate that barred access to the Bank of England's silver deposits. Silver ingots, shimmering like blocks of moonlight made solid, sat in neat stacks, row upon row.

As the human criminal genius slowly and carefully picked the lock, Opal stood beside him and fairly bounced with anticipation. She was so close now, so close to becoming empress of all of time itself. The power of the silver was calling to the stolen demon magic that coursed through her veins. Opal knew that when she placed her hands upon the blocks of precious metal she would have the power she needed to travel wherever and whenever she wanted. Nothing, not that meddling Mud Boy Fowl and that infuriating Captain Short, and certainly not that stupid centaur Foaly, would be able to stand in her way! Opal had been tempted to use what remained of her magic to melt the last door that was all that was keeping her from fulfilling her destiny, but she had ultimately decided against it. Blasting aside any obstacle that could not be overcome by her companions as she travelled through the bank with her magical plasma and goblins' fireballs had certainly been tiring. However what had truly exhausted Opal had been overcoming the fairy Rule of Dwelling. When she had earlier entered the house of Adam Worth she had been an invited guest and consequently the spell had not affected her. But walking into the bank had been a different matter entirely. Naturally the enchantment elicited no reaction from Shinny Saltus, as he had long since sacrificed all his magic in the pursuit of a life of crime among the humans. The amount of magic that she had been forced to employ to overcome the power of the ancient hex had been colossal. Now Opal felt both drained and extremely glad that shortly she would have all the silver she could possibly need to return her to her full strength and beyond.

"How much longer, human?" Opal asked Worth, impatiently.

Biting back the scathing reply that he was longing to utter, Worth replied simply "as the poet Prudentius reminds us, your highness, patience is a virtue". Returning to his work, the criminal mastermind, with his back to Opal, frowned. Something told Worth that allowing this diminutive pixie lunatic access to the vast horde of silver that lay before him was a decidedly bad idea.

Opal was in the act of opening her mouth, no doubt to tell Worth that if he dared to lecture her again she would reduce him to a pile of steaming offal, when suddenly a pulse of blue energy flew past her ear, missing her by inches, and struck one of the gate's iron bars. The metal glowed white hot and then melted like a candle under the flame of a blowtorch. Opal, with a squeal of anger and surprise, spun around. Standing in the entrance to the vault were four fairy Recon officers and a human youth wearing a plain black suit. Opal recognized one of the fairies and the Mud Boy only too well. "YOU!" she screamed hysterically, like a petulant child caught in the act of stealing a sweet. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

The barrel of Root's pistol was still steaming gently after having been fired as he stepped forward. Spitting out the stub of his cigar he growled ominously "that was a warning shot, now we can do this the easy way or the _really_ easy way. Your choice".

Without a seconds hesitation Opal hurled a fireball at Root and screeched "get them!"

Root dived sideways to avoid the magical projectile, taking cover behind a heavy wooden desk and returned fire. His shot narrowly missed Shinny Saltus, who was forced to perform one of his legendary leaps to save himself. Multiple criminals and police officers went for their weapons, each side unleashing a volley of assorted missiles. Piano Charley pulled out a brace of Philadelphia Deringers, took aim and fired** (2)**. One shot whistled past Artemis's ear, whilst the other struck Corporal Evergreen squarely between the eyes. Thankfully the fairy built helmet held firm, saving the officer's life, but the impact of the bullet was sufficient to knock him out cold. However the thief's moment of victory was short lived, as a burst from Holly's Neutrino 3000 sent him flying. Set on stun the weapon caused no lasting damage, but Charley would be unconscious for several hours and awaken with a splitting headache.

Witnessing the fall of the young American safe-cracker, Jack the Ripper drew forth from the pocket of his black coat a pair of scalpels and hurled them with deadly accuracy. The first hit Private Vein in the left forearm, slicing through the thick material of his LEP uniform and cutting almost to the bone. With a scream of pain the elfin officer fell writhing to the floor, but even through his agony he remembered his police training and pulled the knife from the wound. This would allow Vein's magic to begin to heal him, even though such a deep laceration would take some time to fully repair. The second of the two scalpels flew towards Holly and would have plunged into her gut if it were not for the female captain's sharpened reflexes. Sidestepping quickly the blade almost missed Holly altogether. Almost. The lethally sharp surgical implement sliced across the back of her right hand and although the damage was little more than a savage paper cut, something that it took only a few sparks of magic to heal, the stinging pain was enough to make her drop her pistol.

Before Holly had a chance to pick up her Neutrino the black-clad murderer was on her, brandishing a sixteen inch steel blade. At first she thought the Ripper was wielding a sword, before realizing that the weapon was in fact a bone saw. The deadly weapon resembled a serrated Khyber knife and such was it weight, let alone its razor sharp teeth, that Holly instinctively knew that one blow from the saw would be enough to decapitate her or lop off a limb**(3)**. As soon as the killer leapt towards her Holly pulled her baton from her belt and fell into a defensive fighter's stance. Rather than the buzz baton that would come to serve the LEP as a close-quarters weapon in the present day, the fairy police officer of the 19th century carried a metal side-handle baton. Light and well balanced, the truncheon had the added advantage that the user could employ both hands; grasping the protruding side-handle with their free hand to greatly strengthen their grip on the weapon. Holly was soon very grateful for any possible advantage that the baton's design could bestow upon her. The elfin captain had been one of the best cadets at the LEP Police Academy in baton training drills and had subsequently gained a reputation as an expert with the weapon, but after exchanging a few blows with the towering human serial killer she knew at once that she was fighting for her very life. Never before had Holly encountered an enemy with such lighting fast reflexes. The bone saw was nothing but a blinding, flashing blur and it took all her skill just to block the attacks, let alone make any of her own.

Suddenly, just as Holly was certain that Jack the Ripper was on the point of getting past her guard and cutting her in half, the whole vault rang with the explosion of a deafening gunshot. Artemis stood, aiming the Tranter revolver that his ancestor, Captain Alexander Fowl, had given to him at the murderer; a thin wisp of smoke trailing from the barrel. As it happened he had actually missed on purpose (although Artemis would later have considerable difficultly getting anyone else to believe this), as he did not dare risk changing history by killing someone. However Jack wasn't to know this. He stood for a moment, his usually urbane face twisted into a hideous, demonic snarl, before turning and fleeing. Captain Root, who had been keeping the sprite Shinny Saltus pinned down behind a column, redirected his fire after the running killer. However the Ripper sprinted away, weaving from left and right with incredible speed, and finally dived through the vault door. For a moment his boot soles rang out on the marble as he fled and then he was gone. He who fights and runs away may live to murder another day.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Holly returned her baton to her side. Stooping, she reached to pick up her pistol and simultaneously turned her head towards Artemis. "Thanks Arty, I owe you one..." She was interrupted when, without the slightest warning, someone dealt her a smashing kick to the stomach, knocking Holly off her feet and completely winding her.

Upon seeing that Root was distracted, Shinny Saltus had taken his chance. In one great bound he had leapt cross the vault, attacked Holly and kicked the discarded Neutrino 3000 away. From his coat he had produced what Holly immediately recognized as a Softnose laser pistol. Developed from mining equipment in the late 17th century, these primitive fairy firearms were designed for one purpose: to kill. The People are naturally peace loving and unsurprisingly the weapons were outlawed soon after they first appeared on the market. However enough had been sold that they would continue to be a major problem for the LEP for centuries to come. Aiming the handgun at Holly's head, Shinny crowed triumphantly "alright then copper, and you Mud Boy, drop your guns or little miss pretty here gets her brains splattered all over the floor!"

Artemis and Root both hesitated for a moment, before obeying the sprite's command. Both the fairy tri-barrelled blaster and the human Tranter fell to the stone floor of the vault with a harsh clatter. Grinning, the sprite gave Holly another kick for good measure and then said "right choice gents, now get your hands up and go and stand against the wall all nice and quiet like".

Suddenly, from the shadows behind the sprite, a cane swung down like a thunder bolt and struck Shinny a cracking blow to the top of the head. The fairy was knocked out instantly and crumpled up like a concertina. Holly was still recovering from Shinny's brutal attack on her when she found a leather gloved hand before her eyes. Taking it she was pulled to her feet and found herself standing before a smartly dressed gentleman. Adam Worth inclined his head and said politely "I realize that it is a little late in the day for changing sides, but nevertheless I would very much like to try".

"It is never too late, I know that better than most" said Artemis, appearing at Holly's shoulder. "As long as you are prepared to submit to a mind wipe, you and your associate are free to go" he added, indicating the prostrate form of Piano Charley.

Smiling and inclining his head, Worth replied "we have an arrangement, young man".

"That's really great and all, but aren't you lot forgetting something?!" roared Root, as he sent a hail of shots towards Opal.

With her allies defeated, fled or defected, Opal stood alone; blocking all energy pulses fired at her with a magical protective shield. As Artemis, Holly, Root and Worth closed in she let out a piercing shriek of rage and despair. The pixie knew that she way defeated, that her perfect plan had failed and that domination of all of time had slipped through her dainty fingers. A few feet away, behind the iron bars blocking her path, lay the silver that she had sought to steal. Even if she were to melt the bars it would still take hours to drain the magic that she required from the vast silver deposits. Time, the very thing that she had planned to control, was now her enemy. But Opal would not give her hated rivals the satisfaction of capturing her. She would escape and begin again her quest attain to the title of Empress of the World another day. Opal summoned up the stolen magic that she still possessed and...vanished.

The group of humans and fairies that had been closing in around her stopped in their tracks. "She's gone" muttered Root in disbelief. Turning to the others he asked "where in Frond's name did she go?"

"I do not know" answered Artemis flatly. He was starring at the place in the air where Opal had disappeared, as if by sheer force of will he could force her to return to the vault.

"I don't believe it!" shouted Holly furiously. "After all that she just vanishes right in front of our eyes! She didn't shield because we'd have seen her with these damn goggles" she flung the LEP scanning optics away in frustration. "She jus..."

Without the slightest warning both Holly, in mid tirade, and Artemis blinked out of existence in exactly the same way that Opal had done seconds before. Corporal Evergreen, who had finally recovered from the near fatal bullet impacting against his helmet, and Private Vein, the flesh of whose arm had now knitted back together, both walked a little unsteadily to join the rest of the assembled party. At last Worth said simply "well that was somewhat unexpected, I don't suppose any of you gentlemen can explain this?"

"Perhaps I can help" said an old, rather cracked voice.

Spinning around the fairies and human criminal mastermind saw a small, thin creature that resembled a humanoid rhinoceros. It took Captain Root a few seconds before he recognized the thing. "I've seen pictures of your kind before, you're a demon right?"

"Yes, a demon warlock to be precise" the being answered. "My name is Qwan and I was the one responsible for sending Captain Short and Master Fowl back into your time".

"What happened to them, and to Kobi?" asked Evergreen.

"Opal Kobi used her stolen demon magic to perform what we in the trade call a 'time jump'. In layman's terms it's a short range, one-way time tunnel. It requires far less raw magical power, but it cannot move the fairy casting it over great chronological distances. I was monitoring the progress of the mission and when I detected that Miss Kobi had cast a time spell I immediately sent Captain Short and Master Fowl in pursuit".

"Will they be able to catch her?" asked Vein.

"And where did Opal _actually_ go?" put in Root.

Qwan chuckled and said "ah now that would be telling. In regards to where Opal is heading, she wishes to throw her pursuers off her trail. Under the circumstances the best way for her to do this is by travelling to destinations that are highly dangerous; times and places where it is likely that Captain Short and Master Fowl will be killed whilst attempting to catch her. Let us simply say that the situation has been resolved and now only one loose end remains to be seen taken care of".

"You're here to mind wipe us" said Root. It was not a question, but a simple statement of fact.

"Quite, captain. The next thing you and your men will know you will be back at your base of operations, having just managed to capture the criminal Shinny Saltus. He in turn will remember being captured by you. Mister Worth, you will awaken in your armchair at home, having fallen asleep in front of the fire. These occurrences will all have faded entirely from your memory. As for the young thief, Mister Bullard, he will find himself back in his rented lodgings and unable to recall anything that took place since before you met Miss Kobi. As for the murderer Jack the Ripper" Qwan frowned before continuing "I think that it would be best to leave him be. Launching a search for him could well prove more trouble than it was worth".

"Mister, err, Qwan was it?" asked Evergreen. "Out of interest, what would happen if you didn't mind wipe us?"

Far from looking angry at the query, Qwan suddenly took on the appearance of an expert whose area of particular interest has been mentioned. "A very interesting question, young elf. If I didn't wipe away the memories of these recent events from your minds the timeline, or rather _this_ timeline, would be altered. You see you would all go through your lives remembering what Kobi was planning to do and that she was destined to become the most dangerous fairy criminal in history. Therefore you would all naturally be on the lookout for her and no doubt prevent her rise to power. However, and this is where it gets really interesting, she would then never be able to steal the magic that allowed her to travel back in time in the first place. She would then never have met you and these events would never have happened. Of course, paradoxically, that would mean that you then _couldn't_ know about Opal, she _would_ rise to power, _would_ travel back in time and then you _would_ meet. Then the cycle begins again! This is what is known to us demon warlocks as an Unbreakable Wheel. Nothing you could do would get you out off this ever repeating circle, because you would not be aware of its existence. Even those of us who use time spells don't pretend to understand everything there is to know about the true nature of time. Quite frankly I don't think any mortal really can. So in conclusion I think its best if we just go with the mind wipes, don't you?"

After a long silence Worth said "I think perhaps that would be for the best".

* * *

**Author's Note:**_** In the next and penultimate chapter Artemis and Holly will engage in the final hunt for Opal Kobi. In their last, desperate pursuit of the pixie criminal mastermind our heroes will have to overcome some of the deadliest situations they have ever faced.**_

_**The problem of creating a time paradox of the sort discussed by Qwan was first suggested by the French writer René Barjavel in 1943 and is known as the Grandfather Paradox theory. It states that if a man where to invent a time machine, go back in time and kill his grandfather, he would prevent himself from being born. However, if he were to cause himself never to be born, then he could never have invented a time machine and killed his grandfather. Therefore he would be born, would invent the machine, would kill his grandfather and so on. It presents an interesting theory and is guaranteed to give anyone a headache if they think about it for too long.**_

* * *

**Footnotes:**

**(1): **The building that housed the Bank of England in 1859 was designed and built by the superb architect Sir John Soane between 1790 and 1827. Tragically the bank was demolished and rebuilt by Sir Herbert Baker in the years between the First and Second World Wars. Although the building that stands in Threadneedle Street today is undeniably imposing, it should be remembered that its construction was, in the worlds of the Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the art and architecture historian and scholar, "_the greatest architectural crime, in the City of London, of the twentieth century_".

**(2): **The Philadelphia Deringer was a single shot, pocket-pistol designed by Henry Deringer in 1852. The weapon was popular with the army, but became especially so among civilians due to its small size and concealability. It was with one of these pistols that John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln on the 14th April 1865. The term Deringer (later misspelled as Derringer) went on to become synonymous with all small pocket-pistols, the most famous and iconic of which being the double barrelled Remington Derringer.

**(3): **A Khyber knife, or _Pesh-kabz_, is a straight bladed Afghan and Persian short sword or dagger. The weapon is generally between 16-18 inches long and is particularly noteworthy for its robust nature. The knife was extremely popular throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries with both Afghan warriors and colonial soldiers. The great American adventurer, explorer, professional soldier and mercenary Alexander Gardner, for one, favoured it. Khyber knives can still be found today in the hands of Afghan tribesmen and although now largely ceremonial they are still nevertheless deadly weapons.


	10. Chapter 9: The Last Hunt

**Chapter 9: The Last Hunt**

* * *

**Qwan's Time Tunnel**

* * *

The great vault of the Bank of England, without the slightest warning, disappeared before the eyes of Artemis and Holly. The piles of gold and silver ingots, the strong boxes, the stone columns, the iron barred gates and the assembled fairies and humans all vanished in an instant. They were replaced by swirling shapes and colours, confused and distant sounds, and the sensation of travelling at incredible speed whilst remaining completely still. Holly half said, half thought "D'Arvit what in Frond's name just happened?"

Artemis responded calmly and infuriatingly by mentally broadcasting "it would appear that we are in a time tunnel Holly".

"You know what I meant!" snapped back Holly.

"I am disinclined to a voice a more comprehensive analysis of our current situation, captain, until I have more information upon which to base it. However" Artemis added, remembering that Holly's incorporeal state would not last forever and that when they both became solid once more she was highly likely to give him one of her signature punches if he hadn't given her a straight answer, "I could hazard an informed guess if you would care to hear it?"

"Oh please do" replied Holly, in a tone filled with so much false sweetness that it made Artemis metaphorically gulp apprehensively.

"I think perhaps that Opal created another time tunnel and leapt either forwards or backwards in time to escape from us. Qwan, who no doubt has been observing our progress, may well have sensed this and sent us after her".

"So where and when are we going?" asked Holly.

"Ah, I fear that there you have me" admitted Artemis. Suddenly, as the distorted shapes spinning around them started to solidify, he continued "but it would seem that we are about to find out".

In their last moments in the time tunnel, taking advantage of the telepathic link that would shortly cease to exist between them, Holly thought "remember Opal must be almost running on fumes now. We can't let her get away, we have to end this".

"Affirmative captain" said Artemis, with a slight smile that swiftly vanished as the pair fully materialized and found themselves in what looked like a vision of hell.

* * *

**Paris, France, 1871**

* * *

Artemis and Holly were standing in what had once, no doubt, been a beautiful, broad boulevard. The road was now lined with the ruins of burnt out buildings. Broken doors hung from their hinges, the tattered remains of curtains flapped through shattered windows, the cobbled street was frequently punctuated by deep shell holes and the sky above was a foul concoction of twisting black smoke, drifting grey dust and flying embers. All the while the deep, dark, red glow of both nearby and distant fires raging unchecked and out of control lit the night with an eerie glow. The street was littered with all manner of detritus; wrecked carts, the smashed remains of a gun limber, unfortunate cadavers lying where they had fallen, the skeletons of horses, picked clean of all flesh, and everywhere a thick layer of fragments of brickwork, broken glass and ash. Outside what appeared to be the ruin of a typical French restaurant, its jaunty red and white awning now in rags and black with soot, was a mountainous pile of bones. Some of them, to Holly's amazement, looked larger than those of a fully grown bull troll **(1)**. Here and there ragged civilians staggered through the rubble of their city, occasionally stopping to search through the rubbish surrounding them in the hope of finding some morsel of food. A troop of haggard French infantrymen, their blue greatcoats and red trousers splattered with mud and in some cases blood, tramped wearily past. At the head of the small column a gaunt young lieutenant, with his right arm in a sling, was doing what he could to encourage his men by exchanging jokes and platitudes with them. "Une fois de plus dans la brèche chers amis **(2)**" he quipped, eliciting a few tired chuckles from the soldiers.

Horrified, Holly turned to Artemis and whispered "where are we, what happened here?"

Casting his eyes around at the devastation Artemis replied "I think that we may be in Paris during the Prussian siege. Towards the end I would guess". Suddenly he seemed to realize something and said in a worried voice "Holly you should be wearing your disguise, what if people see you?"

Holly had earlier switched the hated dress that Artemis had provided for her with an outdated LEP uniform. This meant that she now looked much less like a human child and much more like a miniaturized soldier. "That can't be helped, I haven't got time to change now. As long as I pull this hat down over my ears I should be OK, at least for a little while. Besides I can shield if I really have to". So saying Holly grabbed the olive-green forage cap that came with the uniform and tugged it down over her tell-tale, pointed elfin ears.

As Artemis took in the scene of chaos and destruction before him he felt his heart sink. What hope would there be of finding Opal here? All that the pixie needed to do would be to go to ground in some deserted cellar or other hiding place and they could search for a century and never find her. As this disheartening thought occurred to the boy genius he happened to glance in the direction of a small church which bordered onto the road. It had clearly suffered heavily during the siege; the roof had almost entirely collapsed into the nave, most of the beautiful stained glass windows had been shattered, leaving the ground around the church sparkling as if it was covered with rubies, emeralds and sapphires, and the thick oak and iron bound doors had been blasted outwards as if by some massive internal explosion. Artemis was just in time to see, clambering up the human-sized steps in front of the empty space that had been a doorway, a tiny figure.

"Holly look!" shouted Artemis as he pointed towards the church, his usual icy composure slipping for a moment, such was his excitement. As Holly turned to stare in the direction that Artemis had indicated, the diminutive being in the entrance to the church spun around, revealing herself to be none other than Opal Kobi herself. She let out a petulant squeal of frustration and then fled into the house of God.

As they ran in pursuit of the fleeing pixie, Holly shouted eagerly "it's a ruin so it isn't classed as a dwelling by the fairy rules any more. We've got her now!" Suddenly the general stillness of the ruined city, disturbed only by occasional shouts and cries of its beleaguered inhabitants, was broken by what sounded like successive peals of thunder; each as loud as the cracking of continents. "What in Frond's name..." began Holly, before her question was answered for her.

A man dressed in the tattered remnants of a blue gendarme's uniform looked aloft, his eyes round with fear, and then bellowed "se mettre à couvert barrage d'artillerie Prussienne entrant!"

The civilians instantly scattered, like rabbits when a hawk is circling above them, running pell-mell towards wherever they thought that they might possibly find some shelter from what they knew was to come. After the initial roar on the horizon had died away the city was left strangely quiet for a few long seconds, as if Paris itself was holding its breath, and then came the whistling howl that heralded the coming doom. Shell after shell came down, some striking brick buildings and reducing them to powder, whilst others either carved red hot trenches along the cobbled streets before exploding, creating holes so deep that they punctured the sewer lines that ran beneath the road. From these yawning fissures thick black sludge oozed through the fractured brickwork, like foul blood from some vast wounded creature. A hotel that must have been extremely grand in happier times took a direct hit and slumped down in ruin, the terrified shrieks of the men and women who had fled there in search of safety cut off in an instant. Through the deadly hail Artemis and Holly ran, both expecting to be blown apart with every passing heartbeat. However, by some sheer miracle, the pair reached the entrance to the church unharmed and sprinted inside.

The church's interior was a mass of broken pews, fallen beams and twisted ironwork. The marble font lay on its side like a felled tree trunk and the altar had been cracked clean in two by a flying shard of shrapnel. Towards the back of the church, where a door in the wall led to a flight of rickety wooden steps that allowed access to the top of the tower, stood Opal. She was frozen in the act of wrenching the door open and was facing her pursuers, an expression of purest hatred etched on her small face. The pixie opened her mouth to scream abuse but any words she uttered were completely lost as a high pitched whistle directly over head drowned out all other sound. Both the fairies and the human looked skywards at exactly the moment that a shell struck the church tower like a thunderbolt.

A few moments before, beyond the ragged French defensive lines, just one of many Prussian artillery batteries was preparing to open fire. The heavy Krupp siege guns sat ideally in their great wooden supports, like sleeping giants, whilst the German gunners bustled around them. The 120 pound shells were rammed home, the breach loading doors slammed shut and tightly secured, the trajectory and range carefully calculated, and finally the firing-cords pulled taught, so that the slightest tug would be sufficient to fire the mighty weapons. And then the order was given, the officer swiftly bringing down his upraised arm like an executioner's axe. The entire battery roared into life, the dozen guns it contained firing in perfect unison and sending a barrage of deadly missiles towards the city that the Prussian army had by the throat **(3)**. Travelling at 1,500 feet per second it took the flying shells just ten seconds to travel the five miles to their targets.

As the hurtling iron cone struck the church tower's roof the age old tiles turned instantly to dust and did not even begin to slow the hurtling projectile. The timber of the spiral staircase was similarly smashed to matchwood as the shell passed through it. However, upon colliding with the ancient stone blocks of the tower itself, the explosive detonated with a violence that sent the entire structure sky high. What was left of the roof of the nave trembled and came crashing down, whilst one whole wall slumped outwards. All three occupants of the church would have been utterly crushed by falling masonry if it had not been for the quick thinking and action of two fairies. The first was Opal Kobi herself, who gathered her strength and once more winked out of existence, and the second was Qwan. While the warlock stood in the drawing room of Fowl Manor he sensed the departure of the pixie criminal to another time and instantly sent Holly and Artemis swiftly after her. As Artemis found himself once again enclosed by the confused surroundings of a time tunnel he couldn't help but wonder where on earth they would next appear. Surely it couldn't be worse than the raining death of the streets of Paris?

"Don't even _think_ that, Artemis, you'll jinx us!" thought Holly angrily.

* * *

**Montana, United States of America, 1876**

* * *

The moment that Opal Kobi stepped out of her time tunnel she turned on her heel and started to run. Unlike Paris she knew that here there would be no shelter, nowhere to hide. Instead she would have to rely on running for her life and leaving behind her accursed pursuers to be slaughtered. Although pixies are naturally fast, Opal herself was no athlete. In fact she was just as inept at physical activities as Artemis Fowl, if not perhaps more so. However, she had a little trick up her sleeve to help her to overcome this failing. Calling upon her stolen magic Opal felt herself imbued with the speed and agility of a sprite. The fairy criminal genius sprinted up the shallow incline of the valley at a speed that an Olympic runner would have struggled to compete with. She smiled as she fled, Artemis and Holly would never be able to catch her now.

When at last Artemis and Holly appeared, they found themselves in a setting that could not have been more different from the burnt and devastated streets that they had just left. They stood in a wide, sloping valley. The blazing heat of the summer sun that beat down from the perfectly blue sky above had dried the grass beneath their feet until it was bone dry and looked as though a single spark would start an inferno. Further down the grassy slopes the valley floor seemed to be covered in hundreds of what at first appeared to be tiny white, grey and brown mountains. However on closer inspection these small anomalies were revealed to be Native American tipis and, like ants around an anthill that had just be kicked, thousands of small figures could be made out frenziedly moving between them. Separating Artemis and Holly from the great camp, half a mile beneath them, a muddy river slowly snaked its way through the landscape. Usually it was quiet and peaceful, but not today.

On this day, on the 25th June 1876, the Little Bighorn River foamed as thousands of warriors on foot and on horseback poured across it **(4)**. Retreating, in complete disorder up the slope towards the human genius and fairy captain, were five troops of the U.S. 7th Cavalry. The force of a mere 200 or so soldiers, fleeing for their lives, appeared pitifully small compared to the furious host pursuing them. Most of the blue-coated troopers were mounted, but already some men had lost their horses and were endeavouring to escape on foot. The tired men barely spared Artemis and Holly a glance as they staggered or cantered past. All that mattered to them was reaching the safety of higher ground from which they could mount a defence. Suddenly a captain with a black moustache and goatee, riding a fierce looking chestnut brown horse, pulled back on the reigns of his charger and pointed to the high north-east ridge that the American troopers had been heading towards. Surprisingly with an Irish accent, the captain shouted in a ringing voice "Jesus! Look out boys, the Indians have got men up on the bluffs!" Looking in the indicated direction the time travellers and the despairing soldiers realized he was right, all along the hilltop the tiny figures of warriors swarmed and began to open fire on the trapped troopers **(5)**.

The retreat was rapidly degenerating into a panicked rout, everywhere Artemis and Holly looked they saw chaos. Some soldiers were shooting their own horses and using their bodies to form makeshift barricades, whilst others were either turning their guns on themselves, to avoid suffering a far more agonizing death. Many were simply abandoning their weapons and fleeing headlong. To her left Holly watched as a tall man with blonde flowing hair and moustache, wearing buckskins and a blood red neckerchief, blazed away with a pair of revolvers whilst roaring encouragement to the men around him. "Don't worry boys, they'll break presently. We've got em'!" he bellowed joyously. A second later he staggered, as if he had merely lost his footing upon the uneven turf, but then a dark red stain began to spread across his chest. His face registered only stunned amazement for a moment, before a second bullet struck him in the forehead and sent him crashing backwards onto the grass. Holly's attention was suddenly arrested by a terrified cursing that began to erupt beside her. A Young trooper had drawn his knife and was desperately attempted to force open the breechblock of his carbine, in which a cartridge was irretrievably jammed. His screaming was cut off when an arrow hit him in the throat. He went down writhing, with blood spurting from the wound in his neck **(6)**.

"Artemis, we've got to find Opal and get out of here right now!" shouted Holly, keeping her head well down to avoid the bullets and arrows hissing through the air around them.

Although it was somewhat difficult to think logically when a bloody and brutal death was perhaps mere seconds away, Artemis considered for a moment before answering his fairy companion. "Opal will most likely be making for the only possible safety in the area, the beleaguered position of Major Reno and his three cavalry companies at the other end of the village. But I fear that now we shall struggle to make it there on foot, let alone catch up with our quarry".

Before Holly could answer, a trooper sprinted past them, stopped before a blonde haired officer and shouted hoarsely "Lieutenant Calhoun, sir, General Custer is dead! We're being overrun!"

"Damnation!" snarled Lieutenant Calhoun, loosing off a volley of bullets from his Colt revolver, downing a charging Sioux lancer. "Sergeant Butler!"

As soon as the lieutenant called, a stocky soldier broke off from pouring fire into the warriors that were rapidly closing in. "Yes sir?" The cavalryman was in his mid thirties, heavily built, sandy haired and with deep, slate grey eyes that appeared stoically calm, despite the chaos surrounding him.

"Mount up and ride like hell for Major Reno. Tell him that unless he sends reinforcement now we're finished!" shouted Calhoun.

Saluting smartly, Sergeant Butler ran across to his horse, which he had tethered to a protruding tree root, one of the few steeds that hadn't yet been shot by its rider, and swung himself up into the saddle. "It's now or never Artemis, come on!" yelled Holly, sprinting forward towards the barrel chested sergeant. Just before he spurred his horse into action Holly called out to him "wait, wait, please stop!"

Sergeant Butler turned to see who had shouted and then started violently. "What the devil!"

"Please, there's no time to explain, you have to help us. There's a very dangerous criminal heading towards your major and we have to catch her".

For a long second the sergeant simply stared, before suddenly reaching down, grabbing Holly under her arm and lifting her easily up, sitting her between himself and the horse's neck. "Up you come little lady. I can't say that I got the least idea what you're talking about or who you are, but this ain't no time for arguing". Leaning down again he offered Artemis his hand. "You ride behind me boy, we'd best be getting along".

Digging his spurs into the horse's flanks, the great black warhorse, already frightened by the sounds and smells of the battle, shot away like a speeding bullet. Gripping and even steering the horse with his knees, Sergeant Butler wielded his carbine with a skill that an old soldier like Holly could readily appreciate. To the veteran sergeant the process of fluidly flicking open the trapdoor, inserting a fresh round, snapping the action shut, taking aim and firing was all done in a matter of seconds. Several times it seemed certain that the three riders would be unhorsed, but incredibly they galloped past, around or through group after group of frenzied warriors. Suddenly they were free and the maddened battle was receding behind them. However, any feelings of relief were short lived, as a tall, mounted brave, wearing a bloody trooper's jacket and hefting a razor sharp tomahawk, noticed their escape. Bellowing a command he charged after Sergeant Butler and his passengers, leading behind him a whooping squadron of at least thirty horsemen.

Thankfully none of these particular warriors seemed be carrying firearms or even bows; armed instead with a motley selection of war-clubs, axes and lances. Additionally the Indian ponies, stocky and rugged animals, seemed to be no match for a cavalry steed at full gallop, even with two humans and a fairy on its back. Slowly they began to draw ahead of the Native American war-band and it seemed at last that they would make good their escape. Suddenly Sergeant Butler glanced over his shoulder, back towards the main battle site, and muttered "they've stopped firing". Without warning he pulled back on the reins, bringing the panting horse to a standstill.

"What are you doing?" shouted Holly in horror.

The sergeant jumped down from his saddle, cocked back the hammer of his carbine and then stood stock still, waiting as the charging riders grew ever closer. "My message don't really mean much any more. It wouldn't matter now if President Grant and the whole God damn army turned up, Lieutenant Calhoun and the rest are finished. Now why should I live and they die, that don't seem right fair now does it? You two keep riding, I got a score to settle with these here boys".

Artemis stared at Holly, for once utterly lost for words, before seizing the reins and cracking his heels into the horse's flank to get it moving once more. As they rode they could make out, receding behind them into the distance, the sharp crack of a rifle, firing as precisely and regularly as clockwork until at last it fell silent **(7)**. Neither of the two time travellers spoke as they galloped away across the slopes of the Little Bighorn valley, both occupied as they were by their own thoughts. That is to say, not until their mount rounded a small thicket of bone dry bushes and Holly suddenly spotted a tiny figure jogging along less than a hundred yards ahead of them. "Opal!" she cried in triumphant fury, like a fearsome bird of prey sightings it quarry.

Opal, who in the name of preserving what little power she still possessed, had ceased to employ the magical agility and speed of a sprite. Once the pixie had run far enough away from the bloodbath of the battle, she had slowed her pace to an easy trot. Just when she had been congratulating herself on giving the slip to, not to mention almost certainly killing, the Fowl boy and the elf captain, she heard her name shouted behind her. Spinning on the spot Opal beheld a sight that filled her throat with furious bile. Artemis and Holly, galloping towards her on the back of a great, black warhorse. She could never hope to outrun such a beast, she had no other choice but to employ the dregs of her power. Gathering together every last drop of demon magic that ran in her veins, Opal conjured up a hole in space and time, and stepped quickly through it. An instant late, just as before, the human and fairy ceased to exist, as they were whisked into a time tunnel of the demon warlock Qwan's making.

With the load unexpectedly removed from its back, the horse of Sergeant Butler slowly cantered to a halt. The charger turned its large head this way and that for a few moments, as if trying to ascertain the location of its erstwhile riders. Upon finding them nowhere to be seen it gave up and began instead to unenthusiastically chew the sparse grass beneath its hooves. The equine glumly reflected as it grazed that its current situation was not overly good; it was lost, exhausted and its beloved master, the man who looked after it so well and provided those most wondrous of things, oats, had vanished. However, had the cavalry charger known to where its two unusual riders had been transported, it would have considered itself to be the luckiest horse in existence that it had not been taken along with them.

* * *

**Isandlwana, South Africa, 1879**

* * *

The moment that Opal Kobi re-materialized she knew at once that the last of her stolen power had left her, leaving her only with a few drops of her natural pixie magic. This would be wholly useless in the creation of time tunnels. She was trapped in the here and now. However Opal did not have time to concern herself with the final failure of her schemes for world domination, what mattered at that moment was saving her own precious skin. The scene that surrounded her was at the same time similar and quite different from the one that she had just left in Montana. She stood on a wide, flat plain, the floor of which was carpeted by dust dry grass and the occasional dead tree or withered bush. The sky above was utterly cloudless and in its centre was a sun that beat down with even fiercer fury than the one that had watched over the Little Bighorn valley. Behind Opal, dominating the landscape, was a strangely proportioned mountain. On the one hand a high, flat-topped peak and on the other, at a slightly lower level, an elongated plateau. But it was the drama that was unfolding before her on the plain itself that firmly occupied the pixie criminal mastermind's attention.

Surrounding Opal was a sea of chaos, punctuated by small islands of iron discipline. 1,700 red-coated British infantry and native auxiliaries were either retreating or attempting to hold their ground as an unstoppable tsunami of 20,000 Zulu warriors, armed with towering hide shields and short stabbing spears, charged inexorably down upon them. The ground was already thick with the bodies of the dead and dying, both tribesmen and soldiers. The very air seemed to reverberate with the crash of rifle fire, the terrifying battle chants of the Zulus, the occasional boom of artillery, the screams of the wounded and the bellowing of the officers. From every direction different orders seemed to be being shouted as with each passing second the situation became ever more dire; "company withdraw, skirmish order", "fire by rank", "form square", "for God's sake get the wagons into a corral", "fall back to the river". One captain, standing in a wagon filled with ammunition boxes and wielding a pair of revolvers, roared defiantly "fix bayonets and die like British soldiers! **(8)**"

Most of the many and varied abilities available to the People require considerable magical energy to carry out. However the Mesmer and the Gift of Tongues require so little magic that they can even be performed by fairies that have sacrificed their powers after spending years ignoring the commandments of the Book. Realising at once that she would stand no chance escaping her current predicament on foot, Opal decided to follow the example of her hated pursuers and requisition some transport. As a cavalryman cantered past her, the pixie sprang forward and seized hold of the horse's bridle. Instinctively the rider, a corporal of the Natal Carbineers, raised his rifle like a club and was on the point of dashing his ambusher's brains out when he noticed, to his shocked amazement, that she seemed to be a young girl.

"What the..." the mounted rifleman gasped, looking down into the girl's upturned face and catching sight of her large, hypnotic eyes.

"You will carry me to safety! You will save me!" hissed Opal, through gritted teeth. The Mesmer generally overpowered even strong human minds almost instantly, but fear and adrenaline are powerful counters to magical hypnosis. However, on this occasion, Opal's feeble power reserves proved up to the challenge. The man's eyes slide out of focus and, without a word, he plucked the fairy from the ground, placed her behind him and then dug in his spurs. As the horse shot away Opal consoled herself with the only silver lining that she could see to this most unsatisfactory venture. At least Artemis and Holly were about to be ripped limb from limb.

Artemis and Holly materialized only a handful of seconds after Opal had hitched a ride with the carbineer and even in such a short space of time the British position had rapidly deteriorated. Artemis, a certified genius, if at all possible liked to employ his intellect to overcome any difficulties that he encountered and never liked to simply follow the crowd. However, on this occasion, no amount of mental agility would be of the slightest use to him. As for Holly, she found herself thrust into a situation that all combat veterans dread, having no idea where she was, what was going on or in what direction safety lay. Both the human and the fairy had no choice but to run for their lives, following the same direction that the majority of the routing soldiers around them seemed to be favouring. Holly seized the arm of her far from athletic companion and hurried him along with a series of brisk shoves and snarled instructions. The pair ducked and weaved their way past burning tents, covered wagons loaded with mealie bags, tinned meat and biscuit boxes, an abandoned 7-pounder Mountain Gun, piles of ammunition crates and countless scenes of slaughter.

Artemis and Holly sprinted past a ragged group of dismounted cavalrymen and foot soldiers, away on their right, fighting ferociously back-to-back and armed with a variety of weapons; ranging from rifles and carbines, to revolvers, sabres, bayonets, knives and even their bare hands. Leading this desperate defence was a tall and powerfully built man in his late forties, with a bristling moustache, his left arm in a sling and wearing a slouch hat and the dark blue uniform jacket of an officer of the Natal Native Contingent. Whilst blasting away with his revolver he roared encouragement to the men around him in a voice like thunder. At one point Artemis caught sight of a sailor, looking strangely out of place on the dusty battlefield, standing with his back to a wagon and keeping the Zulu warriors that surrounded him at bay with his cutlass. As the time travellers fled Holly glanced over her shoulder and saw a cart full of wounded men overtaken by their pursuers and slaughtered. The driver, an officer in the uniform of the Army Hospital Corps, stood up for a moment, shouting, but a moment later a thrown spear struck him in the back and he collapsed out of sight **(9)**.

Holly, who up until that moment had merely been running to save her own life and that of Artemis, not having a second to spare to think about where they were actually running to, suddenly noticed that the mass of retreating soldiers seemed to be heading towards a narrow gorge. The slash in the landscape cut straight across the battlefield, funnelling the survivors fleeing into it down towards a wide river. Perhaps here was a chance for escape? A moment later both the fairy and her human companion had to leap aside as a wagon came hurtling past at break-neck speed. Holly had a second's glimpse of the man controlling the bucking cart, one of the many civilian drivers employed to transport the supplies vital to the British army into Zululand. His eyes were round with fear and his teeth gritted as he lashed mercilessly at the horses' flanks with his whip until they foamed at the mouth. However, in his panic, the driver failed to notice the gorge before him until it was far too late. With a hideous shriek from both the driver and his horses the wagon careered into the gorge, landing with a shattering crash in a twisted pile of wood and iron.

Artemis and Holly clambered down the steep side of the constricted valley and started pushing their way towards the river Mzinyathi and, hopefully, safety. The scene in the narrow gorge, full of writhing, bloodied, cursing, screaming humanity, was like something from Dante's Inferno. Directly before them a wounded private of the Mounted Infantry was having his arm bandaged by a young lieutenant. Just as the officer finished helping the injured soldier, an old Royal Artillery major slid down the side of the bank and shouted "for God's sake get on man, the Zulus are on top of us!" A second later a volley of javelins whistled down from above, one of which embedded itself in the flank of the lieutenant's horse. The throwing spears were followed a moment later by the warriors that cast them. The major succeeded in downing two of his attackers with his Adams revolver, before he disappeared under a tide of Zulus. Dozens of others, including the wounded private, were similarly dispatched. Holly, Artemis and the lieutenant , in a mad scrum, managed to shove their way down towards the river bank, where about a hundred men who were too exhausted to attempt to swim across the raging torrent before them had formed a square. Without a seconds hesitation the lieutenant leapt into the river and disappeared from sight **(10)**.

In that desperate moment, with death and panic all around them, that Artemis saw what he had almost given up hope of seeing. Halfway across the river, clinging limpet-like to the back of a cavalryman, was Opal Kobi. "Come on!" cried out the young genius to his fairy companion "after her". So saying both the time travellers dived into the river and began to swim in pursuit of their elusive quarry.

After a terrifying and frantic gallop across the African landscape and down into the ravine, Opal and the corporal of the Natal Carbineers finally reached the river. Into it they plunged, Opal's thrall keeping a firm grip on the reins of his horse as it swam for all it was worth towards the opposite bank. Just as they reached the middle of the river Opal's luck finally ran out. In the act of raising his head to gage the distance to the relative safety of the western bank, a bullet struck the corporal in the back of the neck and exited through his mouth in a fountain of blood and shattered teeth. The impact threw him from the saddle and, as Opal had been clutching tightly to his back, the pixie, with a petrified wail, fell with him. The waters of the Mzinyathi were a muddy, blood stained, foaming flood, choked with bodies, drowning men and struggling survivors. The small pixie had no hope of fighting the current and felt herself being pulled inexorably down and down into the dark depths. As the merciless waters closed in above Opal and the world turned to darkness she felt, for the first time in her life, that this was the end. There had always been a way out before, some course of action that was only discernible to one with an intellect as vast as her own. But not this time Today she would drown like a rat in a sewer. There was nothing Opal could do about it and that thought petrified the pixie to her very soul.

At that moment Opal felt a small, but firm, hand grasp her wrist in a grip of iron, whilst a second, larger hand seized hold of her shoulder. A second later the murky blackness was replaced by swirling shadows and lights, and then she was lying on a hard surface, soaking wet and crying like a newborn. As the pixie lay on the floor of the Fowl Manor living room, howling hysterically and thoroughly ruining a very expensive rug, Artemis and Holly stood panting and starring at the centaur and the demon that had dispatched them on their mission. After a long pause Foaly said "Well you both look like you've been dragged through a troll's privy backwards. But still" he added with a grin "I've never been happier to see anyone in my life!"

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**Author's Note:**_** Well that was a long chapter and no mistake. I hope I didn't overdo it a bit with the military history. It's an area of great interest to me, but I can't expect the same from everyone else. Still, hopefully you enjoyed parts of it at least. Next time we have the final epilogue and then we are **__**finito**__**.**_

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**Footnotes:**

**(1): **During the Siege of Paris by the Prussians, between 1870–1871, Paris was completely blockaded, preventing any food from entering the city. Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke hoped to starve the Parisians into surrendering, however the people of Paris and the 200,000 French soldiers under General Joseph Vinoy put up a spirited resistance. After initial food stockpiles were exhausted the defenders turned first to horse meat, then to dogs, cats and rats, and finally to the animals of the Paris zoo. Amongst these, killed in late December 1870, were the elephants Castor and Pollux. Those who wrote about their experiences after the siege stated that they found elephant meat to be tough and unpleasant. The giant bones spotted by Holly may well have belonged to one of these unfortunate, noble animals.

**(2): **"_Once more into the breach dear friends_". A quote from Shakespeare's _Henry V_ (act III, scene I). The irony of this quotation of course being that it was uttered by the English King Henry V at the siege of the French city of Harfleur in 1415, a battle that was lost by the French.

**(3): **Until January of 1871 the Prussian commander Field Marshall Moltke had hoped to force the French to surrender through lack of food, but both Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and King (later emperor) William I decide that the siege had gone on quite long enough. On the 25th January a massed bombardment of Paris began that lasted for three days. The Parisians surrendered on the 28th. The pounding by heavy siege artillery killed or wounded 24,000 French soldiers and cost the lives of almost 50,000 civilians. During the Franco-Prussian War the Prussians enjoyed an incredible advantage in artillery, fielding the latest steel, breach-loading Krupp guns that put to shame the outdated brass, muzzle-loading French cannons that had remained virtually unchanged since the Napoleonic War.

**(4): **The exact number of Native Americans at the Battle of the Little Bighorn is almost impossible to pin down. The common view is that there were at roughly 2,000-3,000 warriors and as many as 12,000 non-combats.

**(5): **The Irish officer can only have been Captain Myles Keogh. As a young man Keogh volunteered to fight for the Pope during the War of Italian Unification and even served for a short time in the Vatican Guard. With the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War, Keogh travelled to America, enlisted in the Union army and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After the war he chose to remain in the army with the rank of captain. Every man of Custer's five troops was killed in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, including Keogh. However his horse, Comanche, was the only known survivor of the military disaster. He was found wandering and wounded some distance from the sight of the battle and was slowly nursed back to health. The warriors observed moving along what would one day come to be known as Finley Ridge were those of Chief Gall. Although Crazy Horse receives most of the credit for the victory, in the opinion of the Author the lion's share of the glory should go to Gall. It was only through his perfectly executed flanking move that Custer was unable to reach the high ground from which he and his troopers could have easily held off an army.

**(6): **The cartridge cases of the American Springfield Model 1873 carbine, used at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, were made from copper. A major drawback to this metal is that it expands when heated. During the battle, when the barrels of the rifles became hot through heavy use, it became more and more likely that they would jam. After the disaster the United States Army wisely decided to abandon their outdated bullet cases and instead adopted the far more reliable brass cartridges already in use with the armed forces of several major European powers (such as Britain). Brass remains the favoured metal in the construction of cartridges to this day.

**(7): **1st Sergeant James Butler (as far as I know, no relative of the famous Domovoi Butler) was born to a farming family in Albany in 1844. Growing tired of the simple, peaceful life, he decided to go abroad and joined the British Army. Butler served in the Crimean War of 1853–1856 and was present at that other great military disaster, the Charge of the Light Brigade. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Butler returned to his homeland and served in the Union army, initially in the 2nd US Cavalry. After the war he was transferred to the 7th US Cavalry and quickly demonstrated himself to be one of the best marksmen in the regiment. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn his body was discovered alone, surrounded by spent cartridge cases and over a mile from the rest of Custer's ill-fated troops. It has been suggested that he was being dispatched to Major Reno to ask for assistance, an assumption which is mere common sense. What is more difficult to explain is why, according to the accounts of the Native American warriors pursuing him, he suddenly dismounted and a chose to make a last stand on foot. The Author has endeavoured to account for this seemingly inexplicable behaviour. Although the warriors of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Gall praised the courageousness of many of Custer's men, they later said that the bravest trooper that they fought that day was the man they called '_the soldier with the braid on his arms_'.

**(8):** This is the last known order given at the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 and was probably given by Captain Reginald Younghusband of the 24th Regiment of Foot. He was last seen defending a wagon with a handful of men and may well have been amongst the last to die in the ensuing massacre.

**(9): **The officer making the last stand with a group of men composed from many different units was, judging by the sling, uniform and large moustache, Brevet Colonel Anthony Durnford, one of two officers (the other being Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pulleine) left in command of the British column by the overall commander-in-chief Lord Chelmsford. Durnford was one of the most experienced soldiers in the entire invasion force. During an earlier clash with the Zulus he was wounded in the elbow by a spear thrust that severed the nerve and resulted in the permanent paralysis of his lower left arm, hence the sling. The only representative of the Royal Navy present at the battle was Able-Seaman Aynsley, assistant to Lord Chelmsford's naval aide-de-camp Lieutenant Milne. During the rout Aynsley succeeding in getting his back to a wagon and using his cutlass to keep the Zulus at bay. At last, however, a warrior crawled under the vehicle and stabbed him in the back through the spokes of the wheel. The medical officer noticed by Holly was most likely Surgeon Major Peter Shepherd, a pioneer in the field of first aid and the author of a manual on the subject. This eventually became the handbook used by the newly established St. John Ambulance service. Shepherd attempted to evacuate some of the wounded from the field hospital via a wagon, but it was overrun and he and the injured men were all killed.

**(10): **The lieutenant was Horace Smith-Dorien, one of only 55 out of 1,700 soldiers to survive the massacre. He wrote an account of the battle and it is from this that I have recreated the scene in the canyon. He went on to become a general in the First World War. The Major was Stuart Smith, an old veteran who only arrived at Isandhlwana from Lord Chelmsford's headquarters half way through the battle to see what the garbled dispatches to the commander-in-chief were all about. The line "for God's sake get on man, the Zulus are on top of us!" is a direct quote.


	11. Chapter 10: Epilogue

**Chapter 10: Epilogue**

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**Fowl Manor, Ireland, Present Day**

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Only a few seconds after the three time travellers reappeared in the Fowl living room, whilst Artemis was still blinking as his eyes readjusted to the soft warm light of his home, Holly pounced on Opal. Flipping the pixie onto her stomach, Holly seized both of Opal's hands in one of hers and then snapped on a pair of handcuffs that came with her archaic LEP uniform. Although considerably less advanced than a modern set of fairy stun-cuffs, these old fashioned restraints made up for what they lacked in technological finesse by being heavy, uncomfortable and sturdy enough to keep a troll in check. As soon as the pixie criminal was secured, Holly drew her Neutrino 3000, set the weapon to stun and proceeded to plug Opal squarely between the shoulder blades. The diminutive evil genius ceased her shrieking instantly and slumped into dreamless unconsciousness. Looking up at the others, Holly muttered "I'm not taking any chances".

Looking at the trio, taking in their soaking appearances, Holly's old knickerbocker uniform and the much abused condition of one of his beloved Neutrinos, Foaly asked "what in Frond's name happened back there?"

Glancing at each other, Artemis replied "it's something of a long story, old friend". Turning to the demon warlock, he added "I'm afraid a number of mind-wipes are in order. Would you mind returning to London and 1859, to the exact location that you pulled us from when we began our pursuit of Opal across the latter years of the 19th century. When you get there you will find yourself in a bank vault and in it the six individuals that require your attention. Four fairies and two humans. There was a third human witness, but unfortunately he escaped".

Inclining his head, Qwan replied "I shall see to it". Without another word the warlock vanished into thin air. He reappeared almost instantly, although of course to the demon it had been considerably longer, and said "all taken care of, with the singular exception of the runaway murderer. I think, however, that on that score it might be for the best to simply accept the situation and, as the human expression goes, keep our fingers crossed. Pursuing him might well prove, at best, difficult and dangerous, and at worst counter-productive. Time is a delicate thing at the best of...well you take meaning".

As Foaly activated his communicator and contacted Commander Kelp to let him know that the hunt was over and Opal was in custody, Artemis and Holly walked out of the living room and into the main entrance hall. The oak panelled walls around them were well ornamented with tapestries, silverware, clocks, mounted antlers, banners, suits of armour, swords, pikes, lances, muskets, shields, maces and crossbows. Once upon a time the Fowl's had been a somewhat militant noble family, to say the least. Most prominent and numerous, however, were the family portraits. Generation upon generation of Fowls stared down at the pair of them: Medieval knights, Tudor aristocrats, Jacobean rakes, Georgian dandies, Victorian officers and Edwardian gentlemen.

Looking around at the many rather austere faces glaring at her, Holly said "I remember when I escaped from my cell here the night you kidnapped me. I swore to myself that I'd incinerate every one of these paintings as soon as I got my Neutrino back".

Artemis chuckled. "And why didn't you?"

It was Holly's turn to laugh. "If you recall I got a little bit sidetracked by a rampaging troll".

"They can be somewhat distracting" agreed the human genius. Looking back up at his ancestors. Artemis at last found the portrait he was looking for, that of Major Alexander Philip Fowl – Order of St. Patrick, D.S.O, M.C**.(1)**. The man who eyed them from the painting was considerably older than he had been when they encountered him in the Duke of Wellington's coach, but nonetheless stared at them with the same vaguely sardonic expression. Not for the first time during their recent adventure Artemis murmured "I wonder..."

"What about?" asked Holly, as she also cast her eye over the man they had met what felt like only yesterday and having to remind herself that he had nevertheless (according to the plaque beneath the painting) been dead since 1919.

Once again Artemis didn't answer his fairy friend's question, but simply chuckled and remarked "oh nothing, captain, it's just that I am feeling the need to do a little research into a certain relative of mine. I do believe some of the old chap's journals are still lying around in the attic somewhere". This suddenly seemed to remind Artemis of something and he turned to Holly quite sharply. "Holly where is my dress?" Blushing with embarrassment he hastily added "that is the dress belonging to my great, great grandmother".

"Umm..." mumbled Holly, guiltily. She swung the sodden rucksack from her back and turned it upside down. A considerable amount of water and mud fresh from the Mzinyathi river sloshed out onto the carpet, followed by the ragged remains of a straw hat and what looked like a large, wet, dark red dung ball. "Oh dear" said the elf, trying hard to keep the trace of a treacherous grin from forcing its way onto her face at the sight of the downfall of the hated garment.

Artemis groaned, knowing that no amount of dry cleaning could possibly save the dress and no amount of apologizing would be sufficient to get him out of an extremely disagreeably interview with his mother.

To get Artemis' mind of the ruined family heirloom, Holly gave him one of her signature arm punches and chuckled "hey Arty look on the bright side, at least we saved the world".

"Yes" said Artemis, smiling, "I suppose we did". At that moment, without the slightest warning, Holly grabbed the boy genius' sleeve and yanked him down towards her. Taken completely by surprise, Artemis was on the point of asking his friend what on earth she was doing when he felt the elf's mouth crushed against his own. When they broke apart, Artemis asked in a slightly shell-shocked voice, "what was that for?"

Grinning broadly, Holly winked at her companion and answered "oh I don't know, just helping me to capture the most dangerous fairy criminal in existence and thereby saving all of time from her well manicured clutches. Not to mention saving my life a couple of times along the way".

Smiling, Artemis said "well, Holly, it was a pleasure...any _time_".

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The End

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**Author's Note:**_** And there we have it. This story has been knocking around in my head for ages and in the end I felt, as much for my own peace of mind as for any other reason, that I really had to write it. It didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped, but I'd like to think that it had its moments. Not the best of ending either, really, but it's all about the journey, not the destination, and all that. Thank you for reading and sticking with it all the way through, at times no easy task, I'm sure. Hopefully you enjoyed it.**_

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**Footnotes:**

**(1): **Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross, respectively.


End file.
